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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


SPEECH 

OF 


HON.  MILTON  S.  LATHAM, 


ON     THE 


fladfu 


DELIVERED     IN    THE 


SENATE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

On  the  IQth  day  of  June,  1863. 
A.  L  s  o, 

DEBATE  in  the  SENATE, 


ON    THE 


team  $Mjj  Sine  from  Ojalifontia  10  0{hm», 

AND  PASSAGE  OF  THE  BILL, 


On  the  25th  day  of  April,  1862. 


BALTIMORE..  .PRINTED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  &  Co. 

PUBLISHERS,  BOOKSELLERS,  PRINTERS  AND  STATIONERS, 

MAKBLE  BUILDING,  182  BALTIMORE  STREET, 

1862. 


•acroft 

PACIFIC  RAIL  ROAD  BILL 


Mr.  LATHAM.  I  move  that  all  prior  orders  be  suspended,  and  that  the  Senate 
proceed  to  the  consideration  of  House  bill  No.  364,  being  the  Pacific  railroad  bill, 
which  was  set  down  for  one  o'clock. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  LATHAM  was  agreed  to ;  and  the  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of 
the  Whole,  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  bill  (H.  R.  No.  364)  to  aid  in  the 
construction  of  a  railroad  and  telegraph  line  from  the  Missouri  river  to  the  Pacific 
ocean,  and  to  secure  to  the  Government  the  use  of  the  same  for  postal,  military, 
and  other  purposes. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  Mr.  President,  before  the  Senate  proceeds  to  a  critical  ana 
lysis  of  the  various  sections,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  present  a  few  general  ideas  upon 
this  important  measure,  and  a  special  review  of  the  leading  features  of  the  bill.  I 
deem  this  course  most  economical  of  the  time  of  every  Senator,  and  perhaps  it 
may  obviate  the  necessity  of  response  to  many  objections  which  will  legitimately 
arise  in  the  progress  of  debate. 

The  subject  of  an  inter-oceanic  railway,  uniting  the  Pacific  with  the  Atlantic, 
has  seriously  occupied  the  attention  of  the  American  people  and  Congress  since 
the  admission  of  California  into  the  Union.  There  is,  in  fact,  no  measure  more 
universally  understood  and  its  necessity  appreciated  by  men  of  all  parties,  or  any 
more  earnestly  advocated  in  years  past  by  distinguished  statesmen,  than  this  pro 
ject  now  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Jefferson,  at  the  opening  of 
the  present  century,  saw  the  importance,  nay,  necessity,  of  exploring  a  route  from 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  ocean;  at  a  period,  too,  when  the  Republic 
was  in  its  infancy;  its  population  but  five  millions;  its  territorial  rights  in  the 
vast  region  within  the  then  Territory  of  Oregon  undefined,  the  separation  of  the 
American  from  British  territorial  lines  not  having  been  made  until  nearly  forty 
years  after,  when  adjustment  was  effected  by  the  Washington  treaty  of  1846. 

The  celebrated  expedition  of  Lewis  and  Clark,  through  the  long,  bleak,  unbroken 
wilderness  as  it  was  in  that  age,  passing  three  winters  in  the  enterprise,  was  more 
than  two  years  in  exploring  to  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river,  having  traveled 
four  thousand  miles,  starting  from  the  confluence  of  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri, 
and  occupying  three  years  in  the  overland  and  return  transit. 

The  time,  the  toil,  the  incredible  hardships  and  perils  of  the  expedition  show  the 
importance  of  the  contemplated  results,  destined  to  affect  so  vastly  the  interests  of 
the  great  American  family.  Since  then,  what  an  amazing  change  has  taken 
place!  Two  generations  are  no  more,  and  the  illustrious  men  of  that  age  have 
passed  into  history.  The  Republic,  as  it  came  from  the  victorious  patriots  of  the 
Revolution,  in  virtue  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  recognized  in  the 
definite  treaty  of  peace  in  1783,  fixed  the  territorial  limits  in  area  equal  to  eight 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty  square  miles.  Those 


limits,  by  the  Louisiana  treaty  of  1803,  with  the  French  republic,  by  the  Florida 
treaty  of  1819  with  Spain,  by  Texas  annexation  resolutions  of  1845,  by  the  Guad- 
alupe  Hidalgo  treaty  of  1848  with  Mexico,  and  the  Gadsden  treaty  of  1854,  have 
been  increased  to  three  millions  and  a  quarter  of  square  miles,  double  the  area  of 
the  Roman  empire  at  its  greatest  period  of  expansion,  after  battling  for  possessions 
for  a  thousand  years.  With  its  territorial  growth  has  kept  pace  its  population, 
now  thirty-three  millions,  far  advanced  in  civilization;  and  by  the  application  of 
steam  as  a  motive  power  on  land  and  sea,  and  lightning  as  a  medium  for  the 
transmission  of  intelligence,  the  country  stands  in  practical  science  centuries  in 
advance  of  any  previous  era  in  the  history  of  man.  Tt  is  not  disputed  that  the 
progress  of  the  United  States  in  every  industrial  department  has  been  rapid  and 
constantly  sustained, — in  agriculture,  manufactures,  and  commerce.  The  first 
geographical  division,  the  Atlantic  slope,  was  where  these  great  interests  were 
first  developed  on  this  continent. 

The  restless  Anglo-Saxon  race,  under  its  new-born  Government  of  freedom, 
soon  spread  itself  over  the  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  now  on  the  Pacific 
shores  confronts  the  millions  of  Asia,  and  is  preparing  to  dispute  supremacy  with 
the  commercial  rivals  of  the  Union.  The  results  of  our  industrial  activity  may  be 
understood  by  a  few  items  of  illustration. 

The  yield  of  corn  alone  for  the  year  1860,  was,  in  bushels,  nine  hundred  mil 
lions;  the  domestic  produce  exported  for  the  year  ending  30th  June,  1860,  as 
shown  by  the  report  of  the  Treasury,  was  considerably  upwards  of  four  hundred 
millions  of  dollars,  and  about  thirty-eight  millions  of  dollars  in  excess  of  foreign 
imports.  To  this  may  be  added  profits  on  those  exports  and  cost  of  transportation 
in  American  vessels,  all  of  which  it  would  not  be  unreasonable  to  estimate  as  a 
gain  to  our  own  people  in  that  year's  transaction  of  $100,000,000. 

In  addition  to  our  foreign  commerce,  (taking  the  year  1860  as  an  average,  less 
than  will  exist  when  peace  returns,)  we  have  an  internal  annual  trade  of  over  one 
thousand  five  hundred  millions  of  dollars  carried  coastwise,  up  the  bays  and  large 
rivers,  on  the  great  lakes  by  steamers  and  sailing  vessels,  on  the  Mississippi  and 
its  affluents,  by  two  thousand  vessels, — then  by  overland  through  the  great  railway 
system — a  system  begun  thirty  years  ago,  yet  now  equal  to  thirty  thousand  miles 
in  operation,  with  sixteen  thousand  miles  additional  projected ;  all  together  unite 
in  forming  a  net-work  over  the  older  portions  of  the  United  States,  at  a  cost  of 
$1,000,000,000. 

Now,  it  is  proposed  to  link  these  arteries  of  internal  prosperity  by  one  which 
shall  traverse  the  great  interior  region  from  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  westward 
to  the  ocean,  uniting  with  the  local  system  of  the  Pacific,  the  land  of  mineral  and 
agricultural  wealth,  which,  since  its  admission  into  the  Union,  has  furnished  an 
annual  contribution  in  gold  greater  than  four  times  the  yield  prior  to  1850  of  the 
aggregate  gold  product  of  the  world. 

The  Congress  of  the  United  States,  by  acts  in  1853  and  1854,  determined  that 
all  question  of  the  feasibility  of  the  measure  should  be  put  at  rest  forever  by  order 
ing  explorations,  which  were  made  in  five  different  latitudes,  ranging  from  our 
extreme  northern  limits  towards  the  southern,  taking  first  a  direction  near  the 
forty-ninth  and  forty-seventh  parallels,  then  the  forty-second  and  forty-first,  the 
thirty-ninth  and  thirty-eighth,  the  thirty-fifth  and  near  the  thirty-second. 

These  elaborate  and  voluminous  details  are  presented  in  a  series  of  large  folio 
volumes,  published  by  order  of  Congress,  showing  the  entire  practicability  of  an 


efficient  route,  at  different  eastern  termini,  in' the  wide  longitudinal  range  over  a 
.thousand  miles,  stretching  from  our  northern  boundary  in  the  Mississippi  valley 
to  the  thirty-second  degree  of  latitude. 

The  condensed  tabular  exhibit  of  results  which  I  now  present  from  these  rail 
road  exploration  publications  shows  in  a  clear,  methodical,  and  analytical  form, 
the  general  direction  of  the  lines  of  route  traversed — air  lines,  distance  by  proposed 
-railroad  routes,  summit  of  ascents  and  descents,  length  of  level  route  of  equal 
working  expense,  comparative  cost  of  different  routes,  number  of  miles  of  route 
through  arable  lands,  through  regions  not  equally  favorable,  the  elevation  at  dif 
ferent  distances,  and  altitude  above  the  sea  of  the  highest  points  upon  the  routes. 

The  eastern  half  of  the  Pacific  railroad  is  already  a  reality,  and  that  upon  the 
most  gigantic  proportions. 

We  are  now  called  upon  to  put  an  end  to  delays  by  coming  up  to  the  project 
with  a  determination  to  discard  all  sectional  differences,  all  questions  of  unimpor 
tant  details,  and  agree  at  once  upon  a  plan,  by  legal  enactment,  which  shall 
secure  the  construction  of  this  work  as  speedily  as  the  genius  and  energy  of  our 
artisans  can  accomplish  it.  Fortunately,  statesmen  of  all  parties  agree  that  there 
is  no  constitutional  objection,  while  there  can  be  none  of  a  political  or  industrial 
nature.  The  constitutional  power,  then,  over  the  subject  is  complete  and  un 
doubted.  When  Ohio,  the  oldest  of  the  public  land  States,  was  admitted  into  the 
Union  the  General  Government  was  the  great  land  proprietor  within  the  limits  of 
that  State.  The  Cumberland  road  was  projected  by  the  General  Government. 
It  cost  over  six  and  a  half  millions  of  dollars,  but  its  results  were  immense.  The 
time  from  Wheeling  to  Baltimore  was  shortened  from  eight  to  three  days,  villages 
everywhere  sprang  up  along  the  route,  and  property  rapidly  advanced  in  value. 

Thirty-four  years  ago  over  that  road  two  thousand  tons  of  produce  in  one 
thousand  wagons  were  transported  from  Wheeling  to  Baltimore,  and  a  stimulus 
given  to  intercommunication  by  turnpikes  which  awakened  into  life  regions  at  that 
time  unknown  to  the  quickening  influences  of  trade.  It  was  even  then  supposed 
the  annual  produce  taken  over  the  road  would  be  advanced  to  a  hundred  thousand 
tons  by  cheapening  the  cost  of  transportation.  Yet,  in  this  principle  of  cheap 
transit,  the  future  was  destined  to  produce  a  revolution  incalculable  in  its  results, 
as  found  in  the  inauguration  of  the  railway  system. 

Congress  had,  at  an  early  period,  exercised  the  power  of  appropriating  moneys 
for  internal  improvements  in  the  States,  with  their  consent  In  1806,  an  act  of 
Congress  authorized  a  road  to  be  opened  from  Nashville,  in  Tennessee,  to  Natchez. 
The  Cumberland  road  was  made  pursuant  to  a  law  of  that  year,  under  an  agree 
ment  in  18O2  with  Ohio  that  a  part  of  the  proceeds  of  the  public  lands  within  that 
Stale  should  be  applied  to  the  opening  of  roads  leading  to  it, — States  through  which 
the  roads  might  pass  assenting.  Other  roads  were  made  from  Maine  to  Arkansas 
and  Florida;  obstructions  in  rivers  were  removed. 

Finally,  such  measures  of  internal  improvement  by  the  General  Government 
were  substantially  terminated;  yet  not  until  after  $30,000,000  had  been  expended, 
the  first  serious  check  to  them  having  been  given  by  President  Monroe's  veto  of 
the  appropriation  by  Congress  of  money  for  repairing  the  Cumberland  road,  and 
establishing  gates  and 'tolls.  His  successor,  Mr.  John  Q,.  Adams,  in  his  first  pub 
lic  State  paper  as  President,  favored  the  exercise  of  the  power  by  Congress  as  a 
constitutional  right,  and  the  policy  of  a  liberal  appropriation  from  the  public 
Treasury  for  works  of  internal  improvement,  thereby  withdrawing  the  former 


weight  of  presidential  authority  against  that  power  which  Congress  had  exercised. 
Afterwards  his  successor,  President  Jackson,  announced  the  doctrine  that  Con 
gress  did  not  possess  the  authority  under  the  Constitution  to  appropriate  moneys 
for  works  of  internal  improvements  of  a  local  character,  but  admitted  the  power 
in  regard  to  those  of  a  national  character. 

The  State  rights  doctrine  introduced  in  this  respect  by  the  Maysville  veto  was 
never  denied,  but  on  the  contrary,  encouraged  and  justified  the  exercise  of  the. 
authority  of  the  General  Government  in  opening  military  roads  and  highways 
over  the  Territories  of  the  United  States,  and  conferring  munificent  land  grants 
upon  States  for  railroad  communications,  stretching  from  the  North  to  the  South, 
upon  a  most  expanded  scale. 

This  system  of  land  grants,  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  railways,  began  in  the 
State  of  Illinois  by  a  grant  from  Congress  of  an  area  equal  to  four  thousand  and 
fifty-five  square  miles,  or  two  millions  five  hundred  and  ninety-five  thousand 
acres,  twice  as  large  as  the  State  of  Delaware.  This  is  called  very  properly  the 
corner-stone  of  the  great  empire  system  of  internal  trade  and  travel.  The  grant 
was  made  to  the  State  of  every  alternate  section,  six  miles  in  width  on  each  side 
of  the  road  and  its  branches,  with  an  indemnity,  where  sections  were  not  found, 
of  an  equal  quantity  elsewhere  within  fifteen  miles  of  the  route. 

In  1852,  the  whole  line  was  put  under  contract,  connecting  the  extreme  northern 
part  of  the  State  at  Galena  to  Cairo  on  the  south,  with  a  subsequent  branch  to 
Chicago.  This  main  stem  was  the  base  of  a  triangle  of  which  the  bend  of  the 
river  forms  the  other  two  sides.  The  Illinois  Central  railroad  is  the  longest — four 
hundred  and  fifty-odd  miles — in  the  world  under  any  one  corporation.  Within  two 
years  from  the  date  of  the  grant,  ten  thousand  men  were  at  work  upon  the  line, 
at  an  annual  expense  of  $3,700,000.  It  is  now  fully  equipped,  with  over  one 
hundred  locomotives,  one  hundred  passenger,  baggage,  and  express  cars,  and  also 
over  two  thousand  freight  cars.  Already  the  company  has  disposed  of  $16,250,000 
worth  of  their  lands,  the  larger  moiety  remaining  unsold,  so  that  the  grant  is  esti 
mated  as  equal  to  $40,000,000  from  the  General  Government  to  a  single  State  of 
the  Union. 

Since  then  statesmen  of  the  extreme  South,  as  well  as  North,  have  given  in 
their  adhesion  to  "  land  grants  "  for  such  great  objects  ;  and  Congress,  by  a 
number  of  special  laws,  has  made  like  munificent  donations  to  Missouri,  Ala 
bama,  Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Arkansas,  Florida,  Iowa,  Wisconsin, 
and  Minnesota,  the  aggregate  being  equal  to  twenty-five  millions  five  hundred 
thousand  acres.  The  immense,  nay,  incalculable  benefits  conferred  by  these 
grants  within  the  last  ten  years,  cannot  be  estimated  in  the  rapid  circulation  of 
surplus  capital  within  the  great  area  they  embrace. 

Now,  Senators,  look  at  the  condition  of  our  possessions  on  the  Pacific !  Are  they 
to  be  shut  out  from  a  participation  in  the  benefits,  to  gain  nothing  from  the  vitaliz 
ing  influences  of  these  mighty  agents  of  human  prosperity — with  a  sea-line  on 
the  western  ocean  of  nine  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  equal  to  half  the  Atlantic; 
with  a  population  of  half  a  million,  which  has  overcome  obstacles  and  attained 
results  unsurpassed  by  any  State  in  either  hemisphere?  When  the  American 
flag  was  first  raised  in  1846  on  those  distant  shores,  the  voyage  there  was  a  six 
months'  one  by  way  of  Cape  Horn  ;  then  followed  the  perilous  transit  over  Cen 
tral  America.  Soon  American  energy  crossed  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  with  a 
forty  eight  mile  railway,  at  a  cost  of  $8^000,000;  and  lines  of  steamships  on  the 


Atlantic  and  Pacific  sides  went  into  active  operation  with  a  clear  profit,  for  I860, 
of  nearly  $2,000,000.  Have  we  not  done  our  part,  with  all  the  toils  and  priva 
tions  of  pioneers,  in  fostering  on  distant  shores  the  institutions* of  our  country — 
in  developing  the  gold  product  of  our  State,  which  has  changed  the  value  of  the 
precious  metals  and  furnished  its  immense  metallic  circulation  in  aid  of  the  com 
merce  of  the  world — our  mines  of  silver,  quicksilver,  tin,  lead,  copper,  iron,  and 
coal — our  quarries  of  marble,  granite  and  burr-stone,  which  are  sources  of  count 
less  profit  and  wealth  to  the  whole  earth?  The  arable  lands  of  the  State  were 
estimated  by  Capiain  Wilkes,  of  the  exploring  expedition  in  1842,  at  only  twelve 
thousand  square  miles,  or  seven  millions  six  hundred  and  eighiy  thousand  acres. 
Upon  better  data,  revealed  by  the  progress  of  settlement,  it  is  since  asceriained 
that  the  farming  lands  of  the  State  cover  a  surface  of  nearly  eighty  millions  of 
acres,  producing  abundance  of  cereals  and  fruits  of  the  temperate  zone,  changing 
the  relation  of  California  from  dependence  upon  importations  for  bread  to  that  of 
exporting  flour  as  one  of  her  staples.  But  the  riches  of  our  soil  and  ils  various 
products  are  known  to  the  Senate  and  country.  To  a  greater  or  less  extent,  ex- 
plofation  and  settlement  have  proved  like  facts  in  regard  to  the  agricultural  lands 
of  Oregon  and  Washington — the  northern  boundary,  in  part,  of  the  latter  being 
Puget  Sound,  a  great  inland  sea,  destined^to  have  its  effect  in  the  trade  of  the 
Pacific  ocean. 

Are  these  vast  interests,  in  distant  localities  of  the  Un;on,  to  lanquish  and 
struggle  simply  because  two  thousand  miles  intervene  between  them  and  your 
great  Mississippi  valley?  Is  this  great  interior  region  still  to  be  traveled  the  usual 
laborious  way,  subjecting  the  voyager  to  so  many  perils,  simply  for  the  want  of 
adequate  facilities?  Have  we  not  a  claim  to  the  benefits  due  by  a  Government, 
the  theory  of  which  is  to  confer  equal  blessings,  within  its  constitutional  range, 
upon  every  portion  of  our  wi^e  spread  territory?  The  answer  to  this  has  been 
enunciated  by  the  press,  in  primary  assemblies,  legislative  bodies,  representing 
more  than  thirty  millions  of  people  this  side  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  is  now 
responded  to,  urged  and  importunately  demanded  by  the  interests  of  the  half  mil 
lion  of  our  citizens  west  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  and  Cascades. 

Contemplating  the  interests,  which  I  have  so  imperfectly  suggested  of  the 
Atlantic  and  Mississippi  valley  on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  those  now  ex 
isting  on  the  Pacific  still  to  be  developed  for  the  benefit  of  the  whole  Repulic,  pre 
sent  and  future,  have  the  representatives  of  the  Pacific  not  a  right  to  demand  your 
patient,  patriotic,  prompt  consideration  and  action,  upon  the  important  proposi 
tion  now  before  the  Senate? 

The  measure  before  us  is  clear,  comprehensive,  and  effective  in  its  details,  in 
volving  no  disputed  authority.  It  proposes  a  railroad  system  from  the  Mississippi 
valley  to  the  Pacific,  with  a  telegraph  line.  It  imposes  proper  checks  and  restraints 
upon  the  railroad  companies — those  organized  and  to  be  created — to  prevent 
abuses  or  any  improper  application  of  the  means  placed  at  their  disposal.  It  gives 
them  freedom  in  selecting  a  route,  ample  time  to  prosecute  and  finish  the  work, 
and  yet  is  specific  in  its  awards  of  credits  and  land  grants,  exact  in  securing  the 
interests  of  the  United  States  by  lien  in  every  inch  of  progress  and  loan  of  public 
credit,  and  affording  reasonable  time  to  all  parties.  It  proposes  to  lend  the  credit 
of  the  Government  by  six  per  cent,  bonds,  redeemable  in  thirty  years,  the  loan  to 
be  made  pari  passu  with  the  progress  of  the  work,  in  fixed  ratios;  and  the  amount 
of  the  responsibility  (say  $05,000.,000)  so  arranged  as  to  restrict  the  cost  per  mile 


8 

to  known  and  ascertained  reasonable  valuations ;  ultimately  redeeming  the  stock 
thirty  years  hence,  when  the  mighty  results  of  this  work  shall  have  rolled  forward 
to  the  door  of  the  next  generation;  thus  benefiting  the  masses  at  the  opening  of 
the  next  century  who  will  swarm  east  and  west  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  line 
the  Pacific  shores.  The  roads  and  branches  indicated  in  this  bill  make  an  aggre 
gate  of  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  which,  at  the  rate  of 
five  sections  or  three  thousand  two  hundred  acres  per  mile,  would  make  the 
aggregate  of  the  land  grant  for  the  Pacific  railway  only  seven  million  seven  hun 
dred  and  sixty  thousand  acres. 

Now,  let  us  examine  this  proposed  credit  and  land  grant  relatively  with  the 
territorial  extent  to  be  benefited,  in  contrast  with  what  has  already  been  done  by 
Congress  in  northern,  southern,  and  middle  land  States.  The  geographical  sur 
face  of  the  State  of  Illinois  is  fifty-five  thousand  four  hundred  and  ten  square 
miles.  The  grant  to  her  for  railroad  purposes,  as  I  have  already  indicated,  is  two 
million  five  hundred  and  ninety  thousand  acres,  valued  at  $42,000,000.  The 
geographical  surface  of  that  State,  added  to  the  acres  of  Missouri,  Alabama,  Mis 
sissippi,  Louisiana,  Michigan,  Arkansas,  Florida,  Iowa,  and  Minnesota,  make 
the  surface  of  these  land  States  equal  to  six  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  four 
hundred  and  one  square  miles.  To  tljese,  Congress  has  donated  twenty-five  and 
a  half  millions  of  acres  in  the  choicest  localities  and  richest  lands,  easily  converted 
into  farms,  in  the  midst  of  thick  settlements,  with  fine  fields  in  a  state  of  highest 
cultivation,  with  easy  and  quick  access  to  domestic  and  foreign  markets.  The 
Government  having  virtually  withdrawn  as  a  land  proprietor  in  many  of  those 
States,  an  immense  increase  value  was  the  consequence  to  the  lands  thus  con- 
ceeded.  If,  then,  we  estimate  the  value  of  the  lands  to  the  ten  land  States  men 
tioned,  at  only  one  half  the  value  of  what  the  Illinois  railroad  grant  is  ascertained 
to  be,  it  will  be  found  to  reach  the  enormous  sum  of  $150,000,000. 

Besides  all  this,  Congress  by  a  general  law  approved  4th  of  August,  1854,  has 
granted  the  right  "  to  all  rail  or  plank  road  or  macadamized  turnpike  company, 
heretofore,  or  that  may  be  chartered  before  the  4th  of  August,  1862,  the  right  of 
way  over  and  through  any  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United  States,"  giving  them 
one  hundred  feet  in  width,  enlarged  to  two  hundred  feet  in  cases  of  deep  excava 
tion  and  heavy  embankment,  with  the  right  to  take  from  the  public  lands  materials 
of  earth,  stone,  or  wood,  with  the  necessary  sites  for  watering  places,  depots  and 
workshops. 

The  sum  of  these  amazing  results  is  briefly  this,  that  to  ten  land  States  with  an 
aggregate  geographical  surface  of  six  hundred  and  eighteen  thousand  four  hundred 
and  one  square  miles,  Congress  has  granted  nearly  two  hundred  millions  of 
dollars'  worth  of  the  richest  lands,  in  beautiful  localities,  on  the  great  highways 
of  domestic  and  foreign  trade. 

Now,  the  States  of  California,  Oregon,  and  Kansas  are  together  equal  to  a  geo 
graphical  surface  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand  five  hundred  and 
seventy-three  square  miles,  and  the  Territories  of  the  United  States  between  the 
Mississippi  and  Pacific  contain  one  million  two  hundred  and  forty-two  thousand 
three  hundred  and  twelve  square  miles,  equal  to  the  area  of  thirty  States,  each  of 
the  size  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  The  three  large  States  already  organized,  and  the 
interest  of  ihis  half-continent  territory,  representing  the  dimensions  of  thirty  States, 
only  ask  you  for  seven  millions  seven  hundred  thousand  acres  of  wild  lands,  and 
the  loan  of  your  credit  for  thirty  years,  of  $65,000,000. 


9 

Now,  Senators,  compare  what  you  have  granted  to  others  and  what  is  now 
asked  for  us.  Look  upon  that  picture,  and  then  upon  this!  As  conscientious^ 
patriotic  statesmen — not  neglectful  of  even  the  least  or  more  distant  part  of  the 
Republic,  every  inch  of  it  being  confided  to  your  legislative  care-— moved  by  the 
spirit  of  the  imperial  Senate  of  ancient  days,  never  to  yield  a  foot  of  territory  while 
an  enemy  was  upon  it,  but  constantly  guarding  its  vast  outline  in  all  its  diversified 
interest,  let  me  appeal  to  you  to  weigh  the  grave  considerations  inseparable  from 
this  project,  and  extend  to  us  in  justice  the  benefits  of  equal  laws  and  equal  rights 
so  cheerfully  and  liberally  awarded  to  other  portions  of  the  United  States. 

It  may  be  said  that  the  existing  political  commotions,  the  exigencies  of  war, 
and  other  pressing  demands  upon  the  finances  of  the  nation,  render  it  inopportune 
to  add  to  the  pecuniary  obligations  of  the  country.  Earnestly,,  vitally  important 
as  this  measure  is  to  the  Pacific  States,  yet  if  it  could  for  a  moment  impair,  check, 
or  divert  the  resources  of  the  Government  so  as  to  result  in  any  embarrassment  in 
these  times  of  trial,  I  answer  in  the  name  of  my  constituents,  that  they  would  not 
now  ask  it  at  your  hands.  They  are  committed  to  the  support  of  these  institu 
tions,  upon  the  basis  of  the  Constitution,  under  which  the  Government  of  the 
United  States  was  organized  on  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  and  will  stand  by  it  to 
the  last! 

Let  us,  then,  inquire  if  the  proposition  before  us  is  liable  to  such  exception. 
The  loan  of  the  public  credit  at  six  per  cent,  for  thirty  years  is  for  $65,000,000, 
with  absolute  security  by  lien,  with  stipulations  by  sinking  fund  from  profits  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  principal.  Official  reports  and  other  authoritative  data  show 
that  the  average  annual  cost,  even  in  times  of  peace,  in  transportation  of  troops, 
with  munitions  of  war,  subsistence,  and  quartermaster's  supplies,  may  be  set 
down  in  round  numbers  at  $7,300,000.  The  interest  upon  the  credit  loan  of 
$65,000,000  of  bonds  will  be  annually  $3,900,000,  leaving  a  net  excess  of  $3,400,000 
over  the  present  cost;  appealing  with  great  force  to  the  economy  of  the  measure, 
and  showing  beyond  cavil  or  controversy  that  in  fact  the  Government  will  not 
have  a  dime  to  pay  on  account  of  its  credit,  nor  risk  a  dollar  by  the  act  authorizing 
the  construction  of  this  great  work.  The  United  States,  if  there  is  force  in  figures, 
facts,  and  reason,  will  secure  with  a  land  grant  of  seven  million  seven  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  acres  of  wild  lands,  without  a  farthing's  cost,  or  outlay,  or 
risk,  either  present  or  future,  a  road  that  will  span  half  a  continent,  be  the  great 
highway  of  domestic  trade,  and  eventually  make  the  Union  the  center  of  the  com 
merce  of  the  world. 

Let  it  be  understood  by  the  Senate  and  the  country  that  we  ask  not  a  tithe  for 
this  indispensable  work  of  what  has  been  granted  to  others  for  like  objects,  and 
that  we  ask  it  upon  such  a  basis  as  will  neither  in  present  nor  in  future  draw  a 
dollar  from  the  Ircasury.  In  fact,  such  a  road  would  secure  the  early  peopling 
and  development  of  this  vast  interior,  now  comparatively  shut  in  from  the  world. 
Along  its  entire  length  settlements  would  immediately  form,  which  it  would  be 
the  policy  and  interest  of  the  railroad  land  grantees  to  encourage  and  foster,  with 
the  motive  of  enhancing  the  value  of  their  own  lands,  and  affording  protection  to 
their  property. 

The  line  of  this  great  thoroughfare  between  two  oceans,  would  offer  the  highest 
inducements,  with  every  prospect  of  success  in  agricultural  and  mineral  regions, 
now  but  imperfectly  developed.  Soon,  in  fact,  this  almost  blank  in  our  geogra 
phical  limits  would  be  filled  up  by  industrious  producing  classes,  requiring  all  the 


10 

appliances  of  civilized  life.  The  effect  in  value  upon  such  public  land  would  be 
amazing,  and  the  opening  up  of  the  arable  surface  and  development  of  the  pre 
cious  and  useful  metals;  the  working  of  coal  mines,  the  establishment  of  machinery 
and  workshops,  would  revolutionize  the  existing  condition  of  "the  plains," 
filling  the  wa>te  places  with  occupation,  and  preparing  the  social  and  political 
condition  of  the  country  fora  transition  from  Territories  into  sovereign  States  of 
the  Union,  linking  by  a  great  federative  bond  the  whole  political  fabric  from  ocean 
to  ocean. 

The  proposition  before  us  is  also  one  of  immense  importance,  looking  to  the 
commerce  of  the  East.  Advance  commercial  interests,  and  you  increase  the 
influence  and  power  of  the  nation.  Trade  with  the  Indies  was  the  great  desidera 
tum  upon  the  revival  of  commerce  in  western  Europe.  The  Italian  republics 
took  the  lead  in  the  overland  commercial  intercourse,  which  virtually  ended  upon 
the  establishment  of  Turkish  authority  in  Europe  and  Africa.  The  spirit  of  mari 
time  exploration  and  rivalry  opened  by  the  Portuguese,  who  more  than  three  and 
a  half  centuries  ago  rounded  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  reached  the  Malabar  coast, 
monoplized  the  India  trade,  and  placed  that  inconsiderable  kingdom  foremost 
among  commercial  nations.  After  the  union  of  Portugal  to  Spain,  the  closing  of 
the  ports  of  the  Spanish  empire  to  British  vessels,  the  dependence  of  the  latter 
upon  the  Dutch  for  supplies,  the  revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  and  the  exclusion  of 
the  Dutch  in  their  turn  from  the  ports  of  Lisbon,  the  European  depot  of  Italian 
wares,  the  Dutch,  soon  followed  by  the  English,  sought  the  direct  passage  to 
India,  and  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  great  East  India  companies 
were  founded.  France,  Denmark,  and  Sweden  sought  a  participation  in  the  irade, 
but  the  extraordinary  growth  of  British  power  in  the  East,  overshadowing  all 
opposition,  governed  an  empire  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions  of  subjects  in  the 
East,  occupying  half  the  territorial  extent  of  the  United  States;  and  having  sub 
jected  the  native  princes,  with  a  grasping  and  remorseless  policy  rules  them  with 
absolute  dominion,  at  a  distance  from  the  British  metropolis,  by  the  way  of  Good 
Hope,  of  fifteen  thousand  miles,  thus  bringing  to  the  British  Isles  the  rich  rewards 
of  eastern  trade.  With  all  the  disadvantages  of  remote  locality  from  their  colonial 
dependencies,  we  should  take  a  lesson  from  the  energy  of  the  English  in  their 
amazing  efforts  to  overcome  time  and  space  in  bringing  the  capitals  of  Great 
Britain  and  the  Bengal  Presidency  into  rapid  inter-communication.  Two  different 
"overland  routes,"  as  i hey  are  called,  are  now  in  operation;  the  one  reaching 
round  ihe  Atlantic,  through  the  Mediterranean  sea,  to  Alexandria,  in  Egypt — by 
the  Nile,  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  and  down  the  Red  sea,  traversing  the  Arabian 
Gulf  and  Bay  of  Bengal,  to  Calcutta;  the  other,  varying  only  in  respect  to  the 
transit  of  Calais  and  Ostend,  through  Southern  Europe,  until  the  waters  of  the 
Mediterranean  are  reached,  and  connection  formed  with  the  African  and  Red  sea 
routes. 

The  demands  of  British  trade  are  not  even  satisfied  with  these  facilities,  for  it 
is  in  contemplation  to  establish  a  great  overland  continuous  railway  from  London 
to  Calcutta,  starting  from  Calais,  in  Prance,  passing  through  Belgium,  Rhemish 
Prussia,  Germany,  and  Italy,  to  the  Adriatic;  thence  through  Turkey  in  Europe 
to  Constantinople,  down  through  Turkey  in  Asia,  deflecting  towards  the  mouth 
of  the  Orontes,  on  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean;  thence  easterly,  to 
strike  the  Euphrates,  down  the  long  valley  of  that  mighty  river,  passing  Babylon, 
reaching  Breporah  on  the  Persian  Gulf,  skirting  the  northern  shores  of  the  latter  \ 


11 

thence,  through  Beloochistan,  crossing  the  Indus,  and  passing  over  the  breast  of 
the  Hindoo  peninsula,  uniil  it  shall  reach  Calcutta — a  route  of  five  thousand  six 
hundred  miles,  bringing  the  British  metropolis  and  the  Bengal  Presidency  within 
a  week's  travel  of  each  other.  Grand  as  is  this  railway  conception,  it  is  but  part 
of  the  telegraphic  line  to  reach  from  Falmouth,  by  the  Straits  of  Gibraltar,  id 
Malta,  to  Alexandria,  in  Egypt,  crossing  the  Isthmus  down  to  the  Red  sea; 
thence  to  Kurrachee,  on  the  western  side  of  Hindostan,  over  the  Peninsula  to 
Rangoon,  in  British  India,  to  Singapore,  Hong  Kong,Shanghae,  in  China,  Naga 
saki,  in  Japan,  and  returning  to  Singapore  to  connect  with  the  western  side  of 
Australia,  crossing  that  continent  to  the  capital  of  the  Province  of  Victoria,  and 
thence  on  the  existing  line  to  Brisbane,  on  the  shores  of  the  Alpine  Australia. 

Such  are  the  plans  of  the  commercial  power  and  policy  of  the  Briti.-h  empire, 
seeking  rapid  intercommunication  by  steam,  railway^  and  telegraph  with  all  the 
great  commercial  ports  of  the  world,  at  the  public  expenditure  of  hundreds  of 
millions  of  pounds  sterling,  and  advancing  through  European,  Asiatic,  and 
African  territory. 

Now,  the  position  the  United  States  occupy  on  the  Pacific  ocean  in  respect  to 
the  Indian  trade,  gives  them  advantages  not  possessed  by  Europeans  In  point 
of  distance  in  our  Atlantic  and  European  relations,  the  difference  is  inconsider 
able  when  the  quiet  waters  of  the  Pacific  are  contrasted  with  the  restless  and 
stormy  Atlantic.  The  distance  from  San  Francisco  to  the  southern  part  of  Mats- 
mai  or  Tesso,  the  northern  Japanese  island,  being  forty  one  hundred  miles;  to 
the  southern  point  of  the  great  Island  of  Niphon,  forty-four  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  miles;  to  Shanghae,  in  China,  fifty-three  hundred  and  seventy-three  miles; 
and  to  Honololu,  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  twenty  one  hundred  miles.  Improve 
ments  in  marine  steam  machinery  are  such  that  it  is  not  an  overestimate  to  say 
fifteen  miles  an  hour,  in  due  time,  may  be  attained,  and  in  that  event  a  fortnight 
would  suffice  for  importations  from  China,  Japan,  and  other  ports. 

The  exclusive  system  of  Oriental  nations  has  been  nearly  obliterated  by  ad 
vancing  civilization.  The  British  treaty  of  1842,  at  Nankin,  restored  commer 
cial  intercourse  to  the  five  ports  of  Canton,  Arnoy,  Foochoo,  Ningpo,  and  Shang 
hae.  All  the  benefits  of  that  treaty  accrued  to  us  by  our  treaty  with  China  con 
cluded  on  3d  July,  1844.  After  the  Chinese  war,  declared  in  1857,  there  fol- 
Idwed  the  voluminous  treaties  concluded  in  June  1858,  between  China,  the  Uni 
ted  States,  Great  Britain,  and  France,  by  which  four  additional  ports  were  opened 
to  foreign  shipping,  and  the  navigation  of  the  Yan-tse-kiang  river  made  free  to 
all  nations.  In  1854,  the  Perry  Japanese  expedition  led  to  the  treaty  of  opening 
Simoda  and  Hakodadi  to  our  vessels;  the  new  treaty  of  1857  opened  Naugasaki 
to  American  trade,  and  an  additional  treaty  of  1858  still  further  liberalized  the 
relations  between  ourselves  and  Japan.  The  United  States  are  thus  placed  where, 
by  reason  of  geographical  position  and  commercial  relations,  they  possess  the 
means  to  secure  the  Asiatic  trade,  and  turn  its  golden  floods  towards  themselves. 
All  that  is  now  desired  to  that  end  is  the  success  of  the  Pacific  steam  line  to 
Asia,  wiih  a  complete  connection  of  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington  by  the 
railway  now  under  consideration. 

By  the  completion  of  this  system  between  New  York  and  Asia,  travel  from 
Europe  would  select  as  to  time  and  expense  the  direction  across  our  territory  j 
silks,  teas,  spices,  and  other  valuable  India  products  would  come  to  us  direct, 
and  our  eastern  merchants  and  manufacturers  be  enabled  to  compete  successfully 


12 

with  the  trading  world,  controlling  immense  commerce  and  enriching  the  Re 
public.  The  American  road  over  the  plains  is  a  little  over  one  third  of  the  pro 
posed  overland  Indian  route,  it  is  all  within  our  own  territory,  connecting  the 
Pacific  sea-coast,  which  occupies  the  same  relation  to  Asia  as  the  Atlantic  does 
to  Europe.  It  will  he  a  great  medium,  imparting  wonderful  activity  to  all  the 
industrial  interests  of  the  country,  and  as  time  is  money,  through  its  union  with 
the  existing  railroads  will  furnish  facilities  not  merely  of  domestic  trade  and  ex- 
chang-e,  but  of  easy  and  cheapened  social  intercourse  between  citizens  now  in 
remote  and  distant  localities.  As  a  political  measure  it  will  guard  and  secure 
interests  essential  to  defense  from  intestine  and  foreign  foes. 

1.  In  the  vast  region   over  which  this  road  is  to  be  constructed,  hostile  tribes 
of  Indians  have  ravaged  and  destroyed  the  property  of  our  frontier  men,  butcher 
ing  families  of  emigrants  and  settlers,  and  interrupting  even  the  languid  connec 
tion  which  exists  between  the  interioi  and  the  seat  of  Federal  power.     On  this 
account  the  Government  has  necessarily  kept  mounted  and  foot-troops  for  years 
past,  furnishing  all  their  numerous  and  necessary  supplies,  and  at  enormous  ex 
pense.     These  hostile  tribes  roaming  on  each  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains  from 
beyond  the  northern   line  of  the  United  States  down  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and 
further  on  beyond  the  western  basis  in  California,  Oregon,  and  Washington,  the 
same  mysterious,  intractable  race,  slowly  vanishing  before  the  white  man,  re 
quire  to  be  held  in  obedience  by  material  force.     Indian  wars  in  these  distant 
portions  of  our  territory  have  cost  the  country  for  years  valuable  lives  and  mil 
lions  of  treasure.     Besides  this,  we  have  now  the  country  laid  waste  by  the  Tex 
an  enemy  with  large  military  force,  holding  in  check  and  harassing  our  own 
small  army  without  the  possibility  of  succor,  from  the  nearest  point  in  Kansas, 
under  several  weeks.     A    road  like  this  would    furnish  facilities,  enabling  the 
military  arm  of  the  Government  to  strike  with  concentrated  force  and  rapidity, 
to  subdue  and  repress  enemies  of  the  Republic,  to  protect  and  guard  that  exposed 
and  neglected  region. 

2.  The  next  military  aspect  of  this  subject  is  the  exposed  condition  of  the 
Pacific  coast  in  case  of  foreign  war. 

The  growth  of  our  commercial  power  has  brought  us  into  superiority  over 
the  greatest  maritime  people  of  the  eastern  hemisphere,  our  tonnage  being  five 
millions  five  hundred  thousand,  or  an  excess  over  them  in  tonnage  of  half  a  mil 
lion.  The  popular  nature  of  our  institutions  is  a  standing  cause  of  disquiet  to 
the  feudal  aristocracy  of  the  Old  World.  Their  leading  reviews,  journals,  and 
parliamentary  discussions,  breathe  a  tone  almost  of  animosity  toward  us,  and 
indicate  their  yearning  hope  that  this  intestine  war  may  end  in  overthrow  and 
ruin  as  a  great  nation.  The  commercial  marine  of  the  United  States  is  found  on 
every  sea,  visiting  the  most  distant  shores,  entering  every  market  of  the  globe, 
seeking  such  a  division  of  the  rich  profits  of  trade  as  their  energy  and  enterprise 
have  a  right  to  demand.  The  sources  of  British  strength  and  power  are  to  be 
traced  to  commerce,  which  turns  toward  the  seat  of  empire  a  deep  stream  of 
wealth,  fed  by  affluents  front  every  distant  region,  and  stimulating  at  home  all 
the  industrial  elements  of  that  people.  We  are  competitors  for  a  fair  division  of 
that  trade,  and  in  the  ratio  in  which  we  lessen  her  share  by  increasing  our  own, 
we  weaken  her  power,  and  advance  to  that  position  in  the  family  of  nations 
which  we  feel  is  the  destiny  of  a  great  and  free  people.  Between  us  there  is 
now  pending  a  dispute  in  regard  to  the  boundary  dividing  the  possessions  of  the 


13 

two  Powers,  involving  a  question  of  ownership  of  San  Juan  and  other  islands 
in  the  straits  of  Rosario,  in  the  northwestern  angle  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States.  A  recent  political  event  growing  out  of  our  belligerent  rights  has  brought 
to  our  shores  a  hostile  fleet  with  all  the  equipments  of  war,  threatening  to  strike 
upon  the  instant,  while  a  formidable  and  well  appointed  army  in  the  Canadas 
even  now  keeps  watch  upon  the  long  line  of  our  lake  frontier.  We  are  living 
in  an  age  when  the  political  elements  of  the  Old  and  New  World  are  in  com 
motion.  A  conflict  between  the  principles  and  policy  of  the  mysterious  man 
who  presides  over  the  destinies  of  France — it  may  be  said,  of  Europe — and 
those  of  the  British  empire,  threatens  a  crisis  by  which  the  United  States,  as  a 
commercial  nation,  would  be  drawn  into  the  vortex.  With  disturbing  causes  at 
home,  and  threatening  relations  abroad,  are  we  to  remain  passive  in  regard  to  a 
measure  so  essential  to  our  protection;  nay,  even  necessary  to  the  preservation 
of  our  territory  ? 

Senators,  there  is  a  serious  responsibility  resting  at  the  door  of  inaction  and 
delay.  Should  foreign  war  come,  our  western  ocean  frontier  of  nearly  a  thou 
sand  miles  will  be  found  walled  out  by  the  Rocky  mountains,  the  Sierra  Nevada, 
and  the  Cascades.  Months  would  be  required  before  an  army  could  give  relief 
overland.  By  sea,  Panama,  Nicaragua,  and  Tehuantepec  would  be  closed  by 
hostile  fleets,  and  feeble  and  ineffectual  communication  could  only  be  kept  up,  a 
distance  of  seventeen  thousand  miles,  around  Cape  Horn.  We  ask  not  to  be 
dealt  with  as  a  broken  or  dismembered  part  of  this  great  empire,  but  that  our 
unity  with  the  eastern  half  of  the  American  continent  be  maintained  by  the  means 
which  the  nation  can  so  easily  command.  Our  people  are  true  to  the  cause  of 
the  Union  ;  every  sympathy,  remote  as  we  are  from  the  central  authority,  is  link 
ed  to  the  Government  of  our  fathers,  under  which  we  hope  to  live,  and  in  defense 
of  which  we  are  prepared  to  die. 

Such  are  the  imperious  reasons  which  force  me  to  urge  the  favourable  action 
of  the  Senate  ;  and  in  warning  you  of  the  imminent  necessity  for  instant  and 
efficient  legislation,  it  is  my  duty  to  solemnly  protest  that  further  delay  is  fraught 
with  perils  to  the  integrity  of  our  territory,  and  may  end  in  dismemberment  and 
ruin! 

Senators,  we  turn  with  pleasure  from  such  an  eventuality,  we  hope  impossi 
bility,  to  the  contemplation  of  .results,  the  guarantees-  for  which  are  to  be  found 
in  your  love  of  country  and  devotion  to  all  her  interests.  In  this  season  of  Do 
mestic  turbulence  we  derive  satisfaction  from  the  conviction  that  all  attempts  at 
disintegration  must  necessarily  be  abortive;  that  the  present  is  consequently  an 
unatural  state  of  things,  from  which  the  deluded  portion  of  our  people  will  re 
cover  from  the  delirium  of  a  fever ;  that  our  normal  condition  is  unity  ;  that  com 
mon  language,  laws,  lineage,  blended  interests,  industrial,  social,  and  political, 
love  of  freedom,  of  representative  Government,  are  moving,  controling  causes, 
in  fact,  the  great  elements  of  order  and  power,  which  will  hush  into  silence  the 
clashing  discord  of  the  hour,  and  restore  the  reign  of  peace  and  prosperity.  Our 
domestic  struggle  has  not  been  without  its  benefits;  it  has  developed  new  ideas 
in  respect  to  military  and  naval  strength  in  the  United  States,  furnishing  exam 
ples  which  tell  upon  the  policy  and  bearing  of  rival  nations.  In  this  struggle  a 
million  of  men  at  arms  have  entered  the  field,  fully  equipped  with  all  the  modern 
improvements  of  war,  while  capacity  exists  for  the  rally  of  a  four-fold  number, 
should  necessity  require,  for  the  protection  of  our  firesides  and  altars. 


u 

tt  has  further  been  demonstrated  that  the  pre-existing  system  of  naval  defense 
and  attack  is  entirely  inadequate  and  unreliable.  In  one  maritime  war  the  prow 
ess  and  skill  of  our  Navy  appeared  in  successful  dispute  for  ocean  supremacy. 
Now  we  have  launched  upon  the  deep,  steel  clad  warriors  of  such  model  and 
power  as  to  mock  and  defy  those  "wooden  walls"  once  the  boast  and  glory  of 
proud  maritime  Powers.  The  ability  of  our  Government  for  the  rapid  construc 
tion  and  multiplication  of  these  new  iron  engines  of  naval  strength  is  such  as  to 
enable  us  to  place  invincible  sentinels  at  the  doors  of  our  harbors  in  the  Atlan 
tic,  the  Gulf,  the  great  Lakes,  and  in  the  Pacific. 

And  when  the  reign  of  peace  comes,  as  soon  as  it  must,  results  will  demon 
strate  the  entire  competency  of  this  Government  to  maintain  and  further,  in  a  spi 
rit  of  justice,  all  the  varied  interests  committed  to  its  charge,  while  the  power 
ahall  be  established  and  conceded  to  maintain  its  extended  peaceful  and  parental 
rule,  from  ocean  to  ocean* 


£      e  .-«••••-  to 


|S      JS      jg 

$     g     § 


M  N  N  & 

as      s    y    ~ 


g       I 


833 


i     i 


§    § 


Distance  by  proposed    rail 
road  route. 


Sums  of  ascents  and  descents 


Length  of  level  route  of  equal 
working  expense. 


Comparative  cost  of  different 
routes. 


Route  through  arable  land. 

Route  through  land  generally 
uncnltivable  —  arable  soi 
boinp  found  in  small  a' ens 


0  and  1,000  feet. 


1,000  and  2,000  feet. 


2,000  and  3,000  feet. 


3,000  and  4,000  feet. 


4,000  and  5,000  feet. 


5,000  and  6,000  feet. 


6,000  and  7,000  feet. 


=-    7,000  and  8,000  feet. 


£    8,000  and  9,000  feet. 


mn 


i? 


9,000  and  10,000  feet. 


Altitude  above  the  sea  of  the 
highest  point  on  the  route 


P 


*  These  are  the  estimates  of  the  office;  tho-e  of  Governor  Stevens  having  been  brought  to  the  same  standard 
of  incre-tsed  cost  with  the  other  routes,  and  his  equipment  reduced  to  that  of  the  other  routes.  His  estimates 
were  $117,121,000  and  $110,091,000. 

f  Supposing  the  route  to  be  a  straight  line,  with  uniform  descent,  from  the  Un-kuk-oo-ap  mountains  (near 
8cvi«r  river)  to  the  entrance  of  the  Tah-ee-nhay- pah  Pass— -.he  nv>st  favorable  supposition  possible. 

JThe  estimate  of  Lieutenant  Parke,  for  the  construction  of  a  railroad  by  this  route  from  Fulton  to  San  Jose,  is 
$82,912,750.  A'lding  $2,025,000,  the  office  estimate  for  the  route  from  San  Jose  to  San  Francisco,  Lieutenant 
Parka's  tota'  estimate  from  Fulton  to  San  Francisco  would  be  $St.837,750. 

gThn  estimate  of  Lieutenant  Parke  for  this  route  is  $>9,i)05.500. 

The  sum  of  the  minor  undulations  (not  included  in  thu  sum  of  ascents  and  descents  here  given)  will  probably 
be  greater  ft>r  the  routes  near  the  forty-seventh  and  forty-ninth  parellels  than  for  the  other  routes.  With  the 
amount  of  work  estimated  for  the  roads  in  this  report,  the  equated  lengths,  corresponding  to  the  sums  of  ascents 
and  descents  have  but  little  practicable  value.  With  a  full  equipment  and  heavy  freight  business,  the  sum  of 
ascents  and  descents  becomes  important. 


STEAMSHIP  COMMUNICATION, 


BETWEEN 


San  Francisco,  California,  and  Shangliae,  China, 


VIA 


SANDWICH  ISLANDS  and  JAPAN, 


Debate  in  Senate  of  the  United  States. 


IN    SENATE. 

FRIDAY,  April  18,  1862. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  If  there  be  no  morning  business,  the  Chair  will 
call  up  the  unfinished  business  of  yesterday,  which  is  a  bill  (S.  No.  75)  to  establish 
a  Line  of  Steam  Mail  Ships  between  San  Francisco,  in  California,  and  Shanghae,  in 
China,  touching  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Japan ;  on  which  the  Senator  from 
California  has  the  floor. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  That  may  lie  over  for  a  little  while,  until  there  is  a  quorum-. 
There  is  evidently  not  a  quorum  here  now.  I  want  to  press  the  measure  to  a 
vote,  No  doubt  the  committee  rooms  are  filled.  There  are  two  or  three  committees 
in  session  this  morning,  to  my  knowledge. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.     Does  the  Senator  make  a  motion  ? 

Mr.  LATHAM.     Let  it  go  over  informally.     I  will  call  it  up  again. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.    It  will  lie  on  the  table  for  the  present. 

*3  3  3  3  3  3  33  3  * 

STEAMSHIP   LINE   TO   CHINA. 

Mr,  LATHAM.  I  now  move  that  the  Senate  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
Senate  bill  No.  75. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to,  and  the  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  resumed 
the  consideration  of  the  bill  (S.  No.  75)  to  establish  a  Line  of  Steam  Mail  Ships  be>- 
tween  San  Francisco,  in  California,  and  Shanghae,  in  China,  touching  at  the  Sand^ 
wich  Islands  and  Japan. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  Upon  this  question  the  Senator  from  California 
is  entitled  to  the  floor. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  I  have  nothing  to  say  upon  the  subject  in  addition  to  what  I 
stated  the  other  day,  with  the  exception  of  a  fact  that  I  wish  to  present  to  the  Sen 
ate  in  consequence  of  objections  that  I  know  exist  in  the  minds  of  many  Senators 
with  whom  I  have  conversed  in  relation  to  this  bilL 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Chair  desires  further  to  state,  that  the 
question  pending  is  on  the  amendment  moved  by  the  Senator  from  California  to 
strike  out  all  of  the  original  bill,  after  the  enacting  clause,  and  to  insert  a  substitute. 

Mr.  SUMNER.  The  Senator  from  California  knows  very  well  I  take  a  sincere 
interest  in  his  bill,  and  I  listened  with  great  attention  to  the  able  and  elaborate  speech 
in  which  he  developed  his  idea.  It  seems  to  me  that  if  it  can  be  carried  out,  it  cannot 
do  otherwise  than  great  good  to  our  commerce ;  but  the  Senator  himself  did  confess 
to  a  considerable  expenditure  which  would  be  entailed  upon  the  country  if  the  sy»- 
tern  were  attempted.  The  point  to  which  I  wish  to  bring  his  attention,  if  he  will 


18 

allow  me,  is  to  what  extent  that  expenditure  can  be  made  consistent  with  the  pres 
ent  condition  of  things,  and  with  the  extraordinary  expenditures  to  which  our  Treas 
ury  is  exposed;  in  other  words,  whether,  at  this  moment,  when  we  are  engaged  in 
this  extraordinary  war,  we  can,  with  proper  reference  to  the  finances  of  the  country, 
assume  this  additional  burden.  If  we  svere  in  a  moment  of  peace,  if  we  had  no 
extraordinary  expenditures,  then  I  should  feel  constrained  by  the  argument  of  the 
Senator.  The  difficulty  with  me  is  that  we  are  not  in  a  condition  to  assume  any 
new  and  extraordinary  expenses. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  offered  by 
the  Senator  from  California. 

Mr.  FESSENDEN.     I  should  like  to  hear  the  amendment  read. 

The  Secretary  read  it,  to  strike  out  all  of  the  original  bill  after  the  enacting 
clause,  and  insert : 

That  the  Postmaster-General  be,  and  hereby  is  authorized  and  directed  to  enter  into  a 
contract,  for  a  term  not  exceeding  five  years,  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  $500.000  per  annum, 
with  such  person  or  persons,  being  the  lowest  bidders,  offering  sufficient  and  satisfactory 
security,  after  due  public  notice,  for  the  transportation  of  the  United  States  mails,  upon 
the  best  teims  for  the  United  States,  monthly,  and  in  thirty-five  days,  from  San  Francis 
co,  California,  via  the  Sandwich  Islands  and'Japan,  in  case'any  port  of  that  empire  shall 
be  opened  to  the  United  States,  to  Shanghae,  in  China,  and  back,  in  steam  vessels  of  not 
less  than  two  thousand  tons  buiden,  of  the  best  form  of  construction  adapted  to  the  navi 
gation  of  the  Pacific  ocean  ;  and  any  excess  of  the  amount  \\  Inch  may  be  contracted  to  be 
paid  for  this  service  over  the  aggregate  of  postages  collected  therefor,  shall  be  paid  out  of 
any  money  in  the  Treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

SEC.  2.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  That  these  mail  steam  vessels  shall  be  appropriately 
armed  and  equipped  as  war  steamers,  in  such  manner  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  may 
direct;  they  shall  each  be  commanded  by  a  lieutenant  of  the  United  States  Navy,' and 
while  employed  in  carrying  the  mails,  as  herein  provided,  thev  shall  be  required  to  pro 
tect  commerce  in  their  route  between  Shanghae  and  San  Francisco,  in  the  same  manner 
as  if  the  said  vessels  were  wholly  devoted  to  that  service. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  Mr.  President,  I  think  I  can  answer  successfully  the  objection 
made  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Massachusetts  to  this  bill,  I  know  very  well, 
as  I  stated  the  other  day,  that  a  proposition  of  this  kind  ought  not,  in  the  present 
condition  of  affairs,  to  be  made,  unless  for  good  and  sufficient  reasons.  I  am 
prepared  to  show  to  the  Senate  that  the  protection  given  by  our  Government  to  the 
commerce  of  the  Pacific  coast  is  wholly  inadequate  to  the  interests  involved  ;  in  the 
next  place,  to  show,  that  if  the  Government  pursues  the  policy  indicated  in  this 
bill  it  will  be  really  an  economy  j  and  in  the  third  place,  that  the  interests  of  our 
country  there,  are  such  that  they  will  suffer  to  a  very  alarming  extent  unless  we  go 
to  the  expense  of  increasing  the  Navy  on  the  one  hand,  or  of  adopting  a  system  like 
this  on  the  other. 

In  the  first  place,  on  the  Pacific  coast  we  have  but  six  men-of-war.  The  Navy 
Register  shows  that  the  Pacific  squadron  consists  of  the  Lancaster,  26  guns;  steam 
sloop  Saranac,  9  guns ;  sloop  St.  Mary's,  22  guns ;  the  steam  sloop  Wyoming,  6 
guns ;  the  steam  sloop  Narragansett,  5  guns ;  and  the  sloop  Cyane,  20  guns.  There 
are  four  steam  sloops  out  of  the  six  vessels  that  are  in  all  the  Pacific  waters.  These 
ships  are  principally  stationed  in  the  large  harbors  which  line  the  coast  extending 
from  Chili  up  to  the  British  possessions  in  the  North-west.  The  flag-ship  Lancaster 
is  located  almost  permanently,  I  may  say,  in  the  bay  of  Panama,  for  the  purpose 
of  protecting  the  commerce  that  we  have  monthly  between  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific 


19 

coasts.  The  sloop  Cyane  is  located  almost  permanently  in  the  harbor  of  Acapulco, 
because  our  position  with  the  Mexican  Government  is  such  that  some  vessel  of  war 
is  imperative  at  that  place,  to  protect  our  commerce  and  preserve  amicable  relations. 
The  other  vessels,  with  the  exception  of  one,  are  on  the  coast  of  South  America ; 
so  that  now  our  trade  with  the  East  Indies  and  with  the  Chinese  ports,  since  the 
misfortune  that  happened  to  the  steamship  known  as  the  Saginaw  very  recently,  is 
entirely  without  a  single  vessel  to  protect  them.  There  is  not  a  single  armed  vessel 
carrying  the  American  flag  in  all  those  waters. 

As  against  this  showing,  the  British  Government  have  got  in  those  northern 
waters — not  in  the  southern  Pacific,  but  in  the  northern  Pacific — a  long  list  of  men- 
of-war,  which  I  beg  the  attention  of  the  Senate  in  reading,  as  follows : 

Guns.  Tonnage.  H.  P. 

Steam  flag-ship  Bacchante 51  2,667  600 

Steam  sloop  Caraeleon 17  952  200 

Steam  corvette  Clio 22  1,472  400 

Steam  sloop  Fawn 17  751  100 

Steam  sloop  Harrier 17  748  100 

Paddle  sloop  Hecate 6  817  240 

Steam  sloop  Miranda 15  1,039  250 

Steam  sloop  Mutine , 17  882  200 

Storeship  Naiad 6  1.020              

Storeship  Nereus 6  1,094              

Steam  corvette  Pelorus 21  1,462  400 

Steam  corvette  Tartar 20  1,296  250 

Steam  frigate  Termagant 25  1,547  310 

Steam  frigate  Topaze 51  1,973  600 

Gunboat  Forward 60 

Gunboat  Grappler 60 

Total  (16  ships) 291  17,729  3,770 

The  French  Government  in  the  same  quarter  have  the  following  fleet  to  protect 
their  commerce,  which  is  of  a  very  limited  character  as  compared  with  our  own : 

Guns.  Men.  H.  P. 

Steam  flag-ship  Duguay  Trouin 90  1,000  800 

Corvette  Galathee 32  300              

Corvette  Cornelie 32  300              

Corvette   Bayonnaise 32  300 

Screw  steamer  Oassini 6  180  250 

Total ~102  3,080  1,050 

Both  these  Governments  have  recently  increased  their  force  in  those  waters. 
During  the  time  when  there  was  a  difficulty  pending,  growing  out  of  the  Trent 
affair,  additional  vessels  were  ordered  by  both  of  those  Governments  into  the  Pa 
cific  waters.  The  number  I  am  unable  to  state,  because  I  have  no  means  of  know 
ing. 

I  wish  now  to  present  to  the  Senate  an  estimate  from  the  Navy  Department  as 
to  the  cost  of  maintaining  those  vessels  on  the  Pacific  station.  I  will  take  the 
Lancaster,  which,  as  I  have  stated,  is  located  in  the  bay  of  Panama,  as  an  illustra 
tion.  The  annual  expense  to  the  Government  of  maintaining  the  Lancaster  is 
$405,414  per  annum.  The  pay  of  officers,  marines  and  seamen  amounts  to  $97,374; 
provisions,  $35,040 ;  wear  and  tear  and  consumption  of  stores,  $84,000  ;  and  fuel 
per  annum,  $189,000;  making  a  total  of  $405,414.  Three  such  ships  as  is  con 
templated  by  this  bill,  and  for  which  we  ask  but  a  subsidy  of  $500,000,  would 
cost  the  Government  annually  $1,216,242.  Three  such  vessels  as  the  little  St. 


Mary's,  a  mere  sloop,  a  sailing  vessel,  would  amount  per  annum  to  $299,823. 
Three  such  vessels  as  the  Cyane,  another  sailing  vessel,  would  amount  to  $266,280 
per  annum.  The  payment  of  officers,  marines  and  seamen  in  each  is  estimated  at 
nearly  sixty  thousand  dollars  per  annum ;  provisions  $20,000;  and  the  wear  and 
tear  and  consumption  of  stores,  between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  dollars ;  so 
that,  if  you  take  three  of  these  vessels,  mere  sloops,  the  charge  made  in  this  bill 
would  really  be  economical  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 

Senators  whose  attention  has  not  been  called  specifically  to  this  question  may  not 
be  aware  of  the  extent  of  our  commerce  in  those  waters ;  they  may  not  know  what 
amount  of  property  we  have  there.  Why,  sir,  a  work  that  I  have  been  able  to  get 
hold  of,  published  a  few  years  ago,  shows  that  the  American  trading  vessels  in  the 
Pacific  alone  amount  to  650,  with  a  tonnage  of  200,000,  and  with  16,000  men  em 
ployed.  The  vessels  engaged  in  the  American  whale  fisheries  which  would,  neces 
sarily,  be  incidentally  protected  by  vessels  traversing  the  route  prescribed  in  this  bill 
in  the  Pacific  waters  amount  to  634,  with  a  tonnage  of  223,109,  and  employing 
18,000  men.  Their  value  is  $30,000,000,  and  give  us  a  yearly  profit  of  $10,000,000. 
The  total  number  of  vessels  in  the  Pacific  that  are  to  be  protected  incidentally  by 
these  steamers,  as  provided  for  in  this  bill,  amount  to  1,284,  with  a  tonnage  of 
423,109,  and  with  34,000  navigators,  and  a  total  value  of  $70,000,000.  This  was  an 
estimate  made  several  years  ago,  which  must  now  be  necessarily  much  increased.  I 
have  been  unable  to  obtain  a  very  recent  estimate,  but  I  state  the  above  as  reliable . 

Mr.  President,  I  consumed  so  much  of  the  time  of  the  Senate  the  other  day  on 
this  question,  that  I  did  not,  as  I  might  have  done,  allude  to  these  statistics  so  elab 
orately.  Senators  may  naturally  ask  why  should  we  engage  in  a  trade  of  this  kind, 
supposing  our  commercial  relations  with  that  Government  are  not  of  a  character  to 
justify  us  in  this  outlay.  AVhy,  sir,  with  the  exception  of  the  European  trade,  there 
is  no  part  of  the  known  habitable  globe  with  whom  our  commercial  relations  are  so 
extensive,  or  have  been  so  growing,  as  with  the  Chinese  empire.  Let  me  take  one 
article  alone — the  article  of  tea.  I  make  no  allusion  to  the  silks,  to  the  works  of  art; 
to  the  dye-stuffs,  and  to  other  commodities  that  we  import  from  that  country  ;  but 
I  choose  to  take  that  article  which  is  best  known  to  Senators  and  the  country,  and 
call  your  attention  to  the  trade  in  that  article.  I  will  read,  for  instance,  the  relative 
trade  between  England  and  our  country  in  the  article  of  tea. 

"  In  the  first  half  of  this  time,  that  is,  from  1792  to  1822,  England  imported  of  tea  from 
China  737,637,740  pounds,  or  an  average  of  24,587,591  pounds  per  year.  The  total  value 
of  her  trade  with  that  country,  in  this  period,  was  $1,894,813,474,  or  an  annual  trade  of 
$63,160,449,  and  from  which  the  Government  of  Great  Britain  derived  in  this  period  the 
aggregate  revenue  of  $440,233,422.  In  the  succeeding  thirty  years,  that  is,  from  1822  to 
1852,  the  quantity  of  tea  imported  by  England  reached  the  aggregate  weight  of  1,208,045,- 
111  pounds,  or  an  annual  average  of  40.268,170  pounds.  At  the  beginning  of  the  term, 
the  yearly  import  was  about  23,000,000  pounds,  and  it  now  averages  about  54,000,000 
pounds  annually.  In  this  last  thirty  years,  the  English  derived  in  duties  from  this  tea 
trade  alone  $550,311,614,  or  a  yearly  revenue  of  $18,343,720. 

"The  first  voyage  from  the  United  States  to  China  was  made  in  1785,  but  the  trade  was 
not  fairly  opened  until  1792  ;  from  that  period  it  has  continued  to  increase  until  our  im 
portations  of  teas  now  average  about  16,000,000  pounds  annually.  The  total  value  of  im 
ports  from  the  commencement  of  the  trade  to  this  time  has  reached  the  amount  of  $258,- 
858,283.  Our  exports  have  amounted  to  $86,260,264;  leaving  to  be  paid  in  the  precious 
metals  $172,598,019." 

The  reason  why  the  balance  of  trade  is  against  us  is  because  the  specie  carrying 


21 

business  that  was  done  by  onr  Government  alone  up  to  1827,  has  been  entirely 
taken  by  the  English,  as  I  explained  to  the  Senate  the  other  day.  Up  to  1827,  our 
vessels  had  carried  direct  to  China  the  sum  of  $88,851,606.  The  opium  trade  sprang 
tip  as  between  the  British  East  Indies  and  the  Chinese  ports  about  that  time,  so  that 
the  balance  of  trade  was  in  favor  of  England ;  and  in  order  to  meet  that,  as  I  stated 
the  other  day,  our  American  bills  of  credit  were  substituted  for  the  specie  carrying 
trade.  The  result  has  been  that,  from  1827  down  to  1834,  the  specie  that  we  sent 
to  China  amounted  only  to  $7,988,616,  while  our  American  bills  on  Chinese  account 
payable  in  London,  for  the  same  time,  amounted  to  $16,657,476. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Senator  from  California  will  suspend  his 
remarks.  The  hour  has  arrived  for  the  consideration  of  the  special  order  of  the 
day,  which,  by  force  of  the  rules,  supersedes  the  consideration  of  the  present  bill.  The 
bill  now  before  the  Senate,  therefore,  is  Senate  bill  No.  151,  to  confiscate  the  property 
and  free  the  slaves  of  rebels. 

Mr.  HOWARD.  I  will  state  to  the  Senate  that  I  desire  to  make  some  observations 
on  that  bill,  and  would  be  glad  to  proceed  now,  unless  it  will  interfere  seriously 
with  the  measure  which  is  before  the  Senate,  advocated  by  my  friend  from  California. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Senator  from  Michigan  is  entitled  to  the 
floor. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  With  the  permission  of  the  Senator  from  Michigan,  I  should 
like  to  finish  this  bill.  It  will  not  occupy  a  long  time.  I  am  nearly  through.  I 
do  not  think  it  willl  give  rise  to  any  discussion. 

Mr.  HOWARD.     Then  I  will  yield  for  that  purpose. 

.Mr.  LATHAM.     I  should  like  very  much  to  have  the  bill  finished  to-day. 

Mr.  FESSENDEN.  I  can  only  say  that  the  disscussion  will  not  end  probably 
with  the  remarks  of  the  honorable  Senator  from  California.  I  shall  have  a  word 
or  two  to  say  upon  this  measure ;  they  will  not  be  long,  to  be  sure ;  and  I  do  not 
know  what  other  Senators  may  desire  to  speak.  I  cannot  allow  it  to  pass  without 
entering  my  protest  against  it,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  floor  is  at  the  disposition  of  the  Senator 
from  Michigan. 

Mr.  HOWARD.     If  that  be  the  case,  I  will  proceed. 

«  O  O  O  O  C=  $  O  O  0 

s  o  o  c  o  «  o  $  **  * 

Mr.  LATHAM.  After  the  wish  expressed  by  the  honorable  Senator  from  Ken 
tucky,  I  move  that  the  Senate  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  the  unfinished  business 
of  the  morning  hour,  which  was  laid  aside  in  order  to  take  up  the  special  order,  on 
which  the  Senator  from  Michigan  has  spoken. 

The  PRESIDENT  £>ro  tempore.  If  it  be  the  pleasure  of  the  Senate  the  bill  now 
under  consideration,  the  confiscation  bill,  will  be  passed  over,  remaining  as  the 
unfinished  business  of  the  day,  and  the  Senate  will  proceed  to  the  consideration  of 
the  bill  on  which  the  Senator  from  California  had  the  floor,  which  the  special  order 
interrupted.  If  there  be  no  objection,  the  bill  will  be  considered  as  before  the  Senate. 
The  Chair  hears  no  objection. 


The  Senate,  as  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  bill 
(S.  No.  75)  to  establish  a  Line  of  Steam  Mail  Ships  between  San  Francisco,  in  Cal 
ifornia,  and  Shanghae,  in  China,  touching  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Japan. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  I  had  nearly  concluded  what  I  had  to  say  to  the  Senate  when 
the  special  order  interrupted  me.  I  was  showing  the  influence  that  had  been  exerted 
by  the  English  through  the  means  of  the  opium  trade  in  diverting  the  course  of 
specie  sent  from  our  country  to  Chinese  traders,  and  I  had  just  called  attention  to 
the  fact  that  from  1827  to  1834  our  specie  sent  to  China  direct  amounted  only  to  a 
little  over  seven  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  American  bills  payable  in  London 
since  that  time  to  cover  the  balances  found  due  had  swelled  up  to  the  enormous 
amount  of  $75,757,797.  I  was  about  to  say  that  this  is  an  unnatural  course  of 
trade,  for  the  reason  that  our  country  produces  the  very  same  things  for  consumption 
that  the  British  does ;  we  manufacture  the  same  articles ;  and  there  is  no  reason 
whatever  why  our  people  should  not  avail  themselves  of  their  market  instead.  We 
are  more  in  contact,  nearer  of  approach,  and  more  able  to  compete  for  that  trade 
than  any  other  nation  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 

Let  me  take  the  exports  for  one  year  from  the  two  countries,  Great  Britain  and 
our  own,  from  which  the  Senate  will  be  able  to  see  their  relative  proportions  and 
discrepancies : 

EXPORTS  FROM  ENGLAND  TO  CHINA. 

Cotton  Goods. 

Unbleached  muslins 1,792,321  pieces. 

Bleached  muslins 645,356       " 

Twilled  cottons 133.591       " 

Calicoes  or  chintzes.... 75,174       " 

Cotton  handkerchiefs 61,480  dozen. 

Cotton  yarn 4,314,947  Ibs. 

Woolen  Goods. 

Broad  cloths 334.643  pieces. 

Cassimeres 303.717       " 

Camlets 381,773       " 

Blankets 6,335  pairs. 

EXPORTS   FROM   UNITED    STATES   TO    CHINA. 

Cotton  Goods. 

Unbleached  muslins 90,523  pieces. 

Bleached  muslins 6,398       " 

Twilled  cottons 116,140       " 

Calicoes  or  chintzes 3,130       {t 

Cotton  handkerchiefs 250  dozen. 

Cotton  yarn 69,567  Ibs. 

Woolen  Goods. 

Broad  cloths 615  pieces. 

Cassimeres 968       " 

Camlets 4,958       " 

Blankets none. 

We  have  here  the  staple  article,  can  manufacture  as  cheap,  if  not  cheaper,  than  Eng 
land,  the  expense  of  transportation  quite  as  small,  and  there  is  no  reason  in  the 
world  why  this  marked  difference  should  exist.  This  trade  is  ours  by  all  laws  of 
geography,  and  we  should  not  permit  it  to  pass  from  our  hands. 

But  to  return  to  the  objection  of  the  Senator  from  Massachusetts,  I  feel  perfectly 
authorized  in  saying,  and  I  believe  in  so  doing  I  express  the  wish  of  my  constituency, 


23 

that  if  Congress  would  pass  this  bill  and  give  our  commence  the  protection  these 
steamers  would  afford,  traveling  monthly  throughout  the  entire  Northern  Pacific,  it 
can  withdraw  every  vessel  it  has  now  in  the  Northern  Pacific,  costing  the  Govern 
ment  at  present  between  one  and  two  millions  of  dollars.  I  do  not  mean  to  dispar 
age  the  efforts  and  energies  of  our  ships-of-war  stationed  on  the  Pacific  coast,  for  I 
believe  they  do  all  they  can,  but  they  are  of  little,  if  any,  protection  to  the  whaling 
trade  or  to  the  American  trade  that  is  engaged  in  our  Northern  Pacific.  Why,  sir, 
of  what  benefit,  except  for  that  isolated  and  local  protection,  is  the  stationing  of  the 
Cyane  in  the  bay  of  Acapulco,  or  the  Lancaster  in  the  bay  o;  Panama?  None 
whatever.  If  an  outrage  is  committed,  or  a  wrong  of  any  kind  inflicted  by  any 
foreign  Government,  before  we  could  get  redress  a  long  time  must  elapse,  besides 
trusting  to  the  uncertainties  of  negotiation  and  diplomacy.  Once  give  us  a  line  like 
this,  constituting  the  militia  of  the  seas,  .traveling  periodically  from  San  Francisco  to 
the  Sandwich  Islands,  to  Japan,  and  to  China,  and  it  would  be  of  more  benefit  and 
more  protection  to  our  commerce  than  all  the  vessels  now  located  in  the  whole  Pa 
cific,  both  Northern  and  Southern.  Having  shown  you  that  the  Lancaster  alone 
costs  nearly  half  a  million  annually,  the  whole  subsidy  we  ask  for  this  entire  line; 
and  if  economy  is  your  object,  after  giving  us  this,  take  away  your -war  vessels,  and 
place  them  where  they  may  be  of  greater  service  to  the  country. 

Mr.  President,  this  is  a.  measure  which  the  constituency  I  represent  have  very 
much  at  heart.  It  occupies  the  attention  of  the  commercial  people  of  that  coast 
more  than  any  other,  except  the  great  Pacific  railroad.  It  has  been  asked  for  not 
only  by  our  Legislature  and  by  our  Chamber  of  Commerce,  but  by  repeated  peti 
tions,  praying  that  this  commerce  given  to  us  by  nature,  shall  not  pass  forever  from 
us.  I  know  the  belief  on  the  part  of  some  is  that  the  State  itself  is  perfectly  able  to 
take  care  of  itself;  but  it  strikes  me  that  any  such  idea  is  a  very  contracted  one.  If 
you  intend  to  put  these  remote  portions  of  the  country  on  their  proper  basis  as  a 
portion  of  the  Union,  you  must  give  them  equal  and  necessary  assistance  as  well  as 
protection  from  foreign  aggression.  Why,  sir,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  table  of  the 
annual  gold  productions  of  the  State  of  California,  a  large  proportion  of  which,  as  I 
endeavored  to  show  the  other  day,  would  have  long  since  found  its  way  across  the 
Pacific  by  this  proposed  means,  had  Congress  seen  fit  to  establish  it,  enriching  us, 
instead  of  foreign  countries. 

The  table  shows  that  during  the  short  time  of  our  existence,  from  1849  down  to 
the  present  period,  the  yield  of  gold  in  that  State  has  amounted  to  over  seven  hun 
dred  and  seventy-one  millions  of  dollars,  as  follows : 


Table  exhibiting  the  Shipment  of  Treasure  from  San  Francisco  to  31st  December,  1860  to  all 
quarters,  and  also  to  New  York ;  the  receipts  of  gold  at  the  United  States  Mint  and 
branches,  and  the  estimated  yield  of  the  mines  of  California,  since  1848. 


Year, 

Shipments  to  all 
quarters  as  man 
ifested. 

Shipments  to 
New  York. 

Receipts  at  Mint 
and   branches. 

Estimated  jneld  of 
California. 

1848 

$        60,000 

1849  
1850 

$  4,921,250 
27.676,346 

$  5,232,249 
28,206,226 

8,000,000 
33,000,000 

1851 

45  582  695 

57  138  980 

55  000  000 

1852 

46  586  134 

51  470  675 

57  000  000 

1853  . 

57,331,024 

$47,916,448 

62,838,395 

69.000,000 

1854  . 

51,328,653 

46,289,649 

46,719,083 

64.000,000 

1855  

1856  .     . 

43,080,211 

48,887,543 

38,730,564 
39,765,294 

47,419,945 
56,379,901 

65,000.000 
70,000,000 

1857.. 

48,592,743 

35,287,778 

55,217.843 

70,000,000 

1858. 

47.548,025 

35,578,236 

51,494,311 

70,000,000 

1859  . 

47,640,463 

39,831,937 

52,000,000 

70,000,000 

1860  . 

42,325,916 

35,665,500 

27,037,919 

70.000,000 

1861.. 

70,000,000 

Total  

$771,060,000 

Not  long  since  a  memorial,  bearing  date  of  December  5,  1861,  was  presented 
from  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  city  of  New  York,  in  which  I  find  the  follow 
ing  statement :  ^ 

"To  all  the  considerations  before  mentioned  maybe  added  the  fact  that  the  foreign 
commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York  has  increased,  since  the  firsjt  export  of  California  gold 
at  this  port,  about  tivo  hundred  per  cent." 

In  1849  the  imports  of  that  port  (New  York  city)  were  $92,567,369 ;  the  exports 
$45,963,100;  making  a  total  of  $138,530,469. 

In  1860  the  imports  were  $248,489,877 ;  the  exports  $145,555,449 ;  making  a 
total  of  $394,045,326,  or  an  increase  during  the  time  these  shipments  of  gold  had 
continued,  of  $255,514,857. 

Feeling  loth  to  occupy  any  more  time  of  the  Senate,  I  shall  now  leave  the  matter 
in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  best  able  to  judge  of  the  interests  of  the  Government 
and  of  their  sense  of  duty  in  the  premises.  Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this 
bill,  whether  passed  by  the  Senate  or  rejected,  I  can  only  feel  that  I  have  done  my 
duty,  and  a  pleasant  one,  in  presenting  and  urging  upon  the  consideration  of  this 
body  all  the  facts  available  and  patent  within  my  reach  that  would  in  any  way 
convince  or  favorably  influence  your  judgments. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  the  amendment  moved  by 
the  Senator  from  California. 

Mr.  FESSENDEN.  I  am  not  aware  of  the  relative  merits  of  the  original  bill 
and  the  amendment ;  I  have  heard  the  amendment  read,  but  I  do  not  know  what 
the  provisions  of  the  bill  are.  I  suppose,  however,  from  the  confidence  I  have  in 
my  friend  from  California,  and  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  and  general  accuracy 
•of  views,  that  the  amendment  is  undoubtedly  an  improvement  upon  the  bill.  But, 
sir,  I  am  opposed  to  both  of  them  at  the  present  time ;  I  am  opposed  to  the  thing 
whatever  shape  it  may  assume.  I  am  disposed  to  be  liberal  in  my  votes  on  all  these 
matters,  and  have  been  heretofore,  and  I  do  not  know  but  what  under  another  state 
of  things  in  the  country  I  should  be  desposed  to  give  my  support  to  this  object  on 


25 

looking  into  it  and  being  satisfied  that  the  good  effects  might  be  likely  to  flow  from 
it  which  are  supposed  by  the  Senator  from  California.  But  the  Senate  is  aware  and 
the  country  is  aware  that .  we  have  heretofore,  in  the  period  of  our  legislation, 
adopted,  to  a  certain  extent,  this  system  of  subsidizing  steamers,  paying  subsidies  in 
the  shape  of  postal  arrangement*  in  order  to  facilitate  and  increase  trade.  I  do  not 
know  but  that  the  object  is  a  legitimate  one.  It  was,  at  all  events,  one  that  recom 
mended  itself  to  Congress  and  was  tried ;  but  the  Senate  must  be  equally  aware 
that  after  a  trial  of  that  system  for  several  years,  it  was  ^deliberately  laid  aside  and 
abandoned  by  Congress,  at  a  period,  too,  when  the  country  was  in  a  high  state  of 
prosperity,  its  finances  entirely  unembarrassed,  and  when  we  were  perfectly  able  to 
undertake  such  a  system  and  carry  it  on.  Perhaps  it  was  unwise  to  abandon  it. 

One  would  think,  however,  that  if  it  was  to  be  recommenced,  it  should  be  recom 
menced  where  our  trade  is  the  largest  and  most  direct,  and  especially  with  reference 
to  postages  where  it  would  be  likely  to  yield  something  like  a  return.  We  must  be 
aware  that  this  being  established  under  the  Post  Office  Department,  amounts  to 
nothing  and  can  amount  to  nothing  comparatively ;  it  is  a  mere  cover  for  the  greater 
object,  the  ulterior  object,  of  promoting  and  protecting  trade.  I  am  a  friend  to  that, 
and  at  a  proper  time  and  under  proper  circumstances  I  should  be  willing  to  avail 
myself  of  any  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  would  enable  me  to  accomplish 
that  purpose  reasonably ;  but  at  the  present  time  I  am  averse  to  any  of  these 
undertakings  which  are  matters  of  experiment  alone,  although  there  are  the  fairest 
prospects  that  the  experiment  will  succeed ;  and  I  am  opposed  to  it  simply  for  the 
reason  that  we  have  on  our  hands  now  an  undertaking  which  will  tax  our  resources 
to  the  utmost,  and  is  doing  so  at  the  present  time.  We  have  a  large  amount  of 
debt  unpaid ;  we  are  put  to  the  use  of  all  our  energies,  of  all  our  capabilities,  to  get 
along  with  that  which  is  absolutely  pressing  upon  us  as  a  necessity. 

Now,  however  favorable  I  might  be  to  this  object,  and  however  willing  I  may  be — 
and  certainly  nobody  has  shown  himself  more  so  by  his  votes  than  I  have — to 
advance  the  interests  of  our  friends  upon  the  Pacific  coast  by  every  legitimate 
means  in  the  world,  even  for  them  I  am  unwilling  to  devote  such  large  sums  of 
money  to  undertakings  of  this  description.  I  think  that  our  friends  there,  as  well 
as  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  can  afford  to  wait  for  a  short  period  of  time  until 
the  country  shall  be  able  to  resume  its  original  position,  and  be  able  to  appropriate 
something  for  this  purpose. 

I  will  not  go  into  a  review  of  any  portion  of  the  argument  of  the  honorable 
Senator.  I  think  some  of  his  suggestions  can  be  readily  met  and  answered,  while 
others  it  might  be  more  difficult  to  manage.  Leaving  all  that  out  of  the  question* 
I  must  call  the  attention  of  the  Senate  to  the  fact  that  it  is  as  much  as  we  can 
possibly  do  with  the  necessities  on  hand  to  meet  the  obligations  of  the  Government  ; 
and  I  do  not  think  we  should  be  held  excusable  at  the  present  time  for  returning 
again  to  a  system  or  an  undertaking  which  leads  to  a  system  that  was  once  com 
menced,  and  was,  in  days  of  prosperity,  deliberately  abandoned.  I  may  not  have 
agreed  with  the  policy  of  abandoning  that  system  at  the  time  we  did,  and  in  the 
manner  we  did  ;  but  if  those  times  had  been  these,  if  we  were  then  in  the  same 


position  that  we  are  now,  I  should  have  had  no  doubt  that  this  was  a  proper  point 
at  which  we  could  save  the  expenditure  of  money.  I  trust  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  the  resources  of  the  country  will  enable  us  to  return  to  any  system  that  has 
been  found  beneficial,  or  that  we  may  judge  beneficial  hereafter ;  but  I  think  that 
our  friends  on  the  Pacific  are  pressing  a  little  -too  hard  when  they  tell  us  that 
measures  like  this,  which  we  agree,  those  matters  important  to  themselves  in  which 
we  may  think  alike,  and  which  we  may  be  disposed  to  encourage  and  sustain  at 
the  earliest  possible  opportunity,  should  be  pressed  and  undertaken  at  a  moment 
like  this. 

That  is  my  general  view  of  the  subject,  and,  for  my  own  part,  I  am  unwilling  to 
consider  any  proposition  of  this  description  having  reference  to  improvements  and 
facilities  in  trade,  and  other  matters  of  which  we  are  all  unquestionably  in  favor, 
that  can  be  postponed  without  material  injury.  I  admit  the  existence  of  the  truth 
that  a  nation  must  depend  for  its  ability  to  support  itself  in  war,  in  a  time  of  great 
expenditure,  upon  its  resources,  upon  trade  and  commerce,  and  the  other  great 
sources  of  national  wealth ;  but  we  cannot  originate  them  in  time  of  war ;  they 
must  be  originated  in  time  of  peace.  This  is  no  time  to  take  out  of  the  Treasury 
money  which  we  have  not,  if  I  may  so  express  myself;  money  which  is  absolutely 
essential  for  our  daily  expenditures,  and  which  cannot  be  dispensed  with  for  those 
purposes,  and  apply  it  to  untried  experiments,  much  less  to  experiments  which  have 
been  tried  and  failed,  so  far  as  revenue  was  concerned.  As  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  on  Finance,  and  having  more  particularly  in  view  the  resources  of  the  coun 
try  with  reference  to  meeting  what  we  must  meet  daily,  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  place 
this  simple  and  single  view  of  the  subject  before  Congress  in  reference  to  this  bill  and 
all  other  bills  of  a  similar  description. 

Mr.  McDOUGALL.  Mr.  President,  I  did  not  expect  to  engage  in  this  discussion 
now.  I  hoped,  however,  to  have  a  time  when  I  might  say  a  few  words  that,  I  think, 
may  have  some  value.  I  should  like  to  discourse  on  this  and  kindred  subjects  some 
what  at  length  at  some  other  time.  Now,  however,  I  shall  s&y  a  few  words.  I  have 
not  felt  it  incumbent  on  me  to  present  the  peculiar  considerations  that  belong  to  this 
question,  for  it  has  been  taken  charge  of,  so  far  as  my  State  is  concerned,  by  my 
colleague,  and  I  know  him  to  be  a  man  of  eminent  ability ;  and  after  having  heard 
and  read  his  discourse  on  the  subject,  I  felt  satisfied  that  the  general  aspects  of  the 
question  had  been  presented  admirably,  and  that  I  could  not  improve  them. 

But,  sir,  there  is  one  view  of  the  subject  which  I  propose  to  discuss  now  briefly, 
wherein  I  differ  radically  from  the  Senator  from  Maine ;  and  I  get  my  wisdom  from 
the  teachings  of  past  history.  What  I  have  to  say  now  is  rather  for  suggestion  than 
for  advice.  Sir,  we  are  talking  about  economical  measures,  not  about  developing 
the  country ;  we  are  talking  about  economical  measures ;  not  about  administrative  pol 
icy  ;  we  are  talking  about  non-action,  not  of  action ;  and  therein  we  are  guilty  of  a 
great  want  of  wisdom,  in  my  judgment.  After  England  had  been  involved  in  the 
wars  that  grew  out  of  the  French  revolution,  and  great  debts  were  charged  upon  her, 
there  was  this  cry  that  I  hear  from  the  Senator  from  Maine.  The  great  debt  of  the 
country,  the  great  debt  that  is  being  accumulated  upon  our  shoulders,  is  now  spoken 


5J7 

of  here.  So  it  was  there.  And  when  the  persons  who  were  seeking  popular  favor 
sought  to  alarm  the  people  of  England,  the  greatest  man  in  modern  times  in  the 
British  Parliament,  in  responding  to  the  cry  of  the  oppression  of  debt  and  of  taxa 
tion,  said  something  like  this:  "  but  for  these  wars  and  this  great  burden,  our  ships 
would  not  have  been  upon  all  the  seas ;  it  has  demanded  from  England  the  full  ex 
pression  of  the  strength  of  all  her  sons ;  it  has  developed  her  commerce  with  all  the  na 
tions,  and  it  has  sent  her  ships  upon  every  sea."  I  do  not  quote  the  language  ;  I 
speak  the  substance  of  what  was  said  by  Fox  in  the  English  Parliament  when  they 
were  talking  about  England  being  overwhelmed  with  £800,000,000  sterling  of  debt. 
Adversaries  made  England  strong.  We  are  not  weak,  and  we  are  not  hurt  by  these 
assaults.  The  masters  of  politico-economical  science  who  undertake  to  say  that  be 
cause  we  happen  to  be  in  debt  $1,500,000,000 — I  will  assume  that  as  the  figure — 
therefore  we,  the  people  of  this  Republic,  are  in  trouble — do  not  understand  what 
are  the  resources  of  a  great,  free  people.  England  represents  a  great,  free  people, 
next  to  ourselves,  where  the  energies  of  the  people  are  brought  to  bear  to  meet  the 
necessities  of  the  day,  not  by  the  nod  of  a  monarch,  but  by  action  in  Parliament. 

Now,  I  have  to  say  that  we  ought  not  to  fear  these  things.  Let  us  develop  our 
national  strength  in  every  form,  and  not  be  afraid.  We  are  still  the  North  American 
Republic.  We  are  still  a  Government  winch  has  power  over  every  State  from  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  northern  lakes,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  to  the 
shores  of  the  Atlantic.  The  accidents  of  our  condition  are  temporary.  It  is  of  the 
first  importance  that  we  should  bind  ourselves  together,  and  not  neglect  to  strengthen 
ourselves  by  compelling  the  wealth  of  other  States.  There  is  the  East,  and  I  call 
Senators'  attention  to  it ;  and  they  who  ignore  it  will  find  themselves  in  great  fault. 
There  is  the  wealth  of  the  Orient,  and  what  wealth  is  that  ?  There  are  merchants 
in  towns  in  China  who  could  buy  out  any  twenty  merchants  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  It  is  a  country  full  of  wealth.  Milton  was  not  wrong  when  he  talked 
about  "  barbaric  pearls  and  gold."  India,  again,  is  the  subject  of  a  contest  for  com 
mand.  By  our  position  on  the  Pacific  we  have  the  opportunity  to  command  all  the 
ancient  East;  and  if  those  who  occupy  high  places  of  power  refuse  to  lend  the  aid 
of  the  Government,  by  legislation  and  counsel,  to  promote  these  results,  they  will 
find  that  they  have  substitutes  here  at  no  very  far  period  in  the  future. 

Of  all  the  questions  that  belong  to  the  march  of  civilization  and  to  the  develop 
ment  of  this  country,  wherein  the  extremest  East  is  reproduced  in  the  farthest  West 
— of  all  these  problems  to  them  must  belong,  and  to  them  must  immediately  relate 
two  questions :  one  is  steam  communication  between  our  possessions  on  the  Pacific 
and  the  ancient  East,  and  the  other  is  iron  communication  between  the  shores  of  the 
Atlantic  and  the  shores  of  the  Pacific.  These  are  the  two  great  questions  that 
belong  to  the  age,  and  those  who  ignore  them  will  be  crushed  under  the  iron  wheels 
of  the  great  car  of  progress. 

Mr.  POWELL.     I  move  that  the  Senate  adjourn. 

Mr.  LATHAM.     I  hope  not. 

Mr.  FE3SENDEN.  Does  the  Senator  imagine  that  he  can  get  a  vote  on  this  bill 
to-day  ? 


28 

Mr.  LATHAM.     I  want  to  get  a  vote  on  the  amendment. 

Mr.  POWELL.    I  withdraw  my  motion. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

The  bill  was  reported  to  the  Senate ;  and  the  amendment  was  concurred  in. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  ordering  the  bill  to  be 
engrossed  for  a  third  reading. 

Mr.  FESSENDEN.     On  that  question  I  ask  for  the  yeas  and  nays. 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered. 

Mr.  POWELL.  Now  I  move  that  the  Senate  adjourn.  There  is  evidently  no 
quorum  here. 

The  motion  was  agreed  to ;  and  the  Senate  adjourned. 

&  o  o  *»  «  «  o  o  o  9 

e  a  *  «  00000* 

IN    SENATE. 

FRIDAY,  April  25,  1862. 
c  a  a  *  «  o  <s  o  o  » 

The  hour  of  half-past  twelve  o'clock  having  arrived,  the  special  order  for  that 
hour  was  called  up,  and  the  Senate  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  bill  (S.  No.  75) 
to  establish  a  Line  of  Steam  Mail  Ships  between  San  Francisco,  in  California,  and 
Shanghae,  in  China,  touching  at  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  Japan. 

Mr.  COLLAMER.  When  this  bill  was  up  the  other  day,  I  suggested  that  a  vote 
should  not  then  be  taken.  I  had  heard  other  gentlemen  say  they  desired  to  speak 
upon  it.  I  have  no  wish  to  speak  upon  it.  I  will  merely  say  that  I  doubt  the  pro 
priety  of  again  establishing  a  policy  of  this  kind  in  the  present  condition  of  our 
country. 

Mr.  GRIMES.  I  move  to  amend  the  second  section  of  the  bill  by  striking  out 
the  words  "  they  shall  each  be  commanded  by  a  lieutenant  of  the  United  States 
Navy." 

Mr.  LATHAM.     I  have  no  objection  to  the  amendment. 

The  amendment  was  agreed  to. 

Mr.  HALE.  I  feel  constrained  to  say  a  word  or  two  on  this  subject,  inasmuch  as 
the  bill  was  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs,  and  the  committee  reported 
against  the  bill  at  this  time.  The  committee  did  not  go  into  an  examination 
of  the  matter  in  regard  to  its  relation  to  commerce  and  the  postal  facilities  which 
this  line  will  furnish  to  the  country;  but  taking  that  view  of  it  which  made  the 
reference  of  it  to  the  Naval  Committee  appropriate,  they  thought  that  it  was  not  ex 
pedient  at  the  present  time  to  recommend  the  passage  of  such  a  bill.  The  second 
section,  it  will  be  seen,  is  the  one  that  refers  to  that  matter ;  and  it  provides: 

"That  these  mail  steam  vessels  shall  be  appropriately  armed  and  equipped  as  war  steam 
ers,  in  such  manner  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  may  direct  j  they  shall  each  be  com 
manded  by  a  lieutenant  of  the  United  States  Navy," — 

which  latter  clause  has  been  stricken  out — 

"and  while  employed  in  carrying  the  mails,  as  herein  provided,  they  shall  be  required  to 
protect  commerce  in  their  route  between  Shanghae  and  San  Francisco,  in  the  same  man 
ner  as  if  the  said  vessels  were  wholly  devoted  to  that  service." 


29 

I  need  not  say  that  since  this  bill  was  first  introduced,  events  which  are  familiar 
to  all  the  Senate  have  produced  as  total  a  revolution  in  regard  to  the  subject  of  na 
val  warfare  by  steam  vessels  as  ever  has  been  known  in  any  department  of  govern 
ment  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and  what  might  have  been  considered  ap 
propriate  and  requisite  and  proper  three  months  ago,  would  be  considered,  perhaps, 
as  absurd  at  the  present  time.  The  committee  did  not,  as  I  said  at  the  outset,  deem 
it  their  duty  to  inquire  particularly  in  reference  to  the  commercial  or  the  postal  rela 
tions  which  this  line  of  steamers  was  to  have  to  the  interests  of  the  country,  but 
simply  in  regard  to  this  latter  subject ;  and  the  committee  believed  that  in  that  con 
nection  it  was  not  worthy  the  support  of  Congress.  They  came  to  that  conclusion 
before  the  revolution  of  which  I  have  spoken  in  public  sentiment  had  occurred. 
Since  that  has  occurred,  it  seems  to  me  that  all  the  reasons  which  influenced  the 
committee  in  their  decision  are  infinitely  stronger  than  they  were  before,  and  that 
the  attention  of  the  Navy  Department  in  this  hour  of  the  country's  emergency  and 
in  this  crisis  of  naval  warfare,  its  energies  and  resources,  should  not  be  directed  in 
any  manner  to  the  construction  <3f  vessels  of  this  character.  It  was  for  these  reasons 
that  the  committee  were  opposed  to  the  adoption  of  this  system  then,  and  are 
opposed  to  it  as  such  now. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is  on  ordering  the  bill  to  be  en 
grossed  for  a  third  reading. 

The  question  being  taken  by  yeas  and  nays,  resulted — yeas  27,  nays  13,  as  fol 
lows: 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning,  Carlile,  Cowan,  Davis,  Doolittle,  Henderson, 
Howard,  Lane  of  Indiana,'  Lane  of  Kansas,  Latham,  McDoagall,  Xesniith,  Pomeroy, 
Powell,  Rice,  Saulsbury,  Simmons,  Stark,  Sumner,  Thomson,  Wade,  Wilkinson,  Willey, 
Wilson  of  Massachusetts, -Wilson  of  Missouri,  and  Wright — 27. 

NAYS — Messrs.  Chandler,  Collamer,  Dixon,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimes,  Hale, 
Howe,  King,  Morrill,  Sherman,  and  Wilmot — 13. 

The  bill  was  read  a  third  time. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  question  is,  "  Shall  the  bill  pass  ?" 
Mr.  FESSENDEN.  I  ask  for  the  yeas  and  nays  upon  the  passage  of  the  bill.  It 
may  be  considered  a  very  impertinent  remark,  but  I  must  say  that  I  can  hardly 
suppose  the  Senate  understood,  especially  the  members  of  the  Finance  Committee, 
what  they  were  voting  for.  This  bill,  in  the  present  stage  of  our  finances,  makes  a 
positive  requisition  upon  the  Government,  not  only  authorizes,  but  directs,  the  Gov 
ernment  to  pay  $500,000  a  year  to  establish  a  line  of  steamships  under  the  Post 
Office  regulations,  at  a  period  when  we  need  all  the  money  we  can  get  by  any  possibility 
to  carry  on  the  war,  and  when  it  is  not.  to  be  supposed  that  any  income  whatever 
can  come  from  it  under  the  Post  Office  regulations.  There  is  no  Post  Office  business 
for  this  line  to  do ;  but  it  is  to  be  established  under  the  pretense  of  postal  regulation, 
when  we  have  abandoned  that  whole  system  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  where  commerce, 
to  a  great  extent,  is  carried,  and  where,  if  anywhere,  we  suifer  from  the  competition 
of  English  steamers.  The  system  has  been  tried  and  abandoned,  and  we  have  come 
to  the  plan  of  giving  nothing  whatever  in  the  shape  of  subsidies  except  the  postages. 
We  .abandoned  the  system  which  is  now  proposed  to  be  again  inaugurated  after  a 


30 

deliberate  trial,  when  our  Treasury  was  full,  when  we  had  ample  ability  to  sustain 
it ;  and  yet,  in  this  stage,  where  no  postages  and  no  income  of  any  consequence  at 
all  can  be  expected  under  the  Post  Office  regulations,  it  is  proposed  to  establish  this 
new  line  of  steamships.  I  have  said  before,  that  a  proper  time,  and  when  our 
Treasury  could  afford  it,  I  might  be  in  favor  of  the  system  ;  but  at  present  I  con 
ceive  it  to  be  a  matter  that  is  fraught  with  very  great  danger. 

I  made  all  the  remarks  that  I  had  to  make  upon  it  the  other  day,  by  way  of 
argument  and  suggestion.  If  the  Senate  differ  from  me,  I  submit  with  all  the  grace 
that  I  can.  I  must  do  so;  but  I  want  it  distinctly  understood  by  everybody  what 
the  measure  is.  I  cannot  say  that  I  am  surprised  at  anytoly's  vote,  because  every 
body  else  knows  just  as  well  as  I  do  how  to  vote.  I  do  not  pretend  to  dispute  that ; 
but  I  am  surprised  at  the  members  of  my  committee,  who  know  what  difficulty  we 
have  to  get  money,  even  for  the  current  expenses  of  the  day,  voting  in  favor  of  this 
bill. 

Mr.  SIMMONS.  I  want  to  say  one  word  in  explanation  of  my  vote.  I  know  it 
has  got  to  be  somewhat  of  a  habit  for  gentlemen  to  question  the  ability  of  the  people 
to  support  the  Government  of  the  country.  I  have  never  entertained  exactly  the 
opinion  of  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  about  the  deplorable  condition 
of  the  finances  of  the  country.  I  vote  for  this  bill  because  I  think  its  object  a 
laudable  one,  that  I  would  vote  for  at  any  time,  that  I  have  been  in  favor  of  for  the 
last  twenty  years. 

Mr.  McDOUGALL.  As  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Finance  has  stated 
his  conclusions,  and  the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  has  stated  his, 
allow  me  to  say  that  I  have  not  discussed  this  question  on  the  floor  for  the  reason 
that  I  sought  action  and  did  not  want  to  delay  it;  but  I  wish  to  say  here  that  this 
is  a  measure  not  to  take  money  out  of,  but  to  put  money  into  the  Federal  Treasury  ; 
this  is  a  measure  not  to  weaken  the  strength  of  the  Government,  it  is  to  give  it 
strength.  If  there  is  any  field  of  enterprise  that  demands  the  attention  of  the 
Federal  Government,  so  that  we  may  be  strengthened  in  commercial  relations,  by 
finding  a  market  for  our  manufactures,  it  is  China  at  this  present  moment,  and  the 
time  when  we  can  seize  an  advantage  should  not  be  lost. 

Mr.  FESSENDEN.     I  ask  for  the  yeas  and  nays  on  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

The  yeas  and  nays  were  ordered. 

Mr.  HALE.  I  voted  in  the  minority  and  therefore  cannot  make  a  motion  to 
reconsider ;  but  if  some  gentleman  who  voted  in  the  majority  would  move  a  recon 
sideration  of  the  engrossment  of  the  bill,  I  should  like  to  submit  another  amendment 
to  be  acted  upon. 

Mr.  WILKINSON.  To  accommodate  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire,  I  move 
to  reconsider  the  vote  ordering  the  bill  to  be  engrossed  for  a  thiK?  reading, 

Mr.  HALE.  I  will  state  to  the  Senate- that  my  only  object  is.  to  move  au  amend 
ment  to  the  bill. 

Mr.  McDOUGALL.     Will  the  Senator  state  the  amendment  he  desires  to  offer? 

Mr.  HALE.  I  will  state  it  so  that  the  Senate  can  vote  understanding^  on  the 
motion  to  reconsider.  I  want  to  move  an  amendment  to  strike  out  the  second  section. 


31 

That  is  anaval  matter  entirely,  and  the  views  of  the  Naval  Committee  are  that  it 
is  riot  worthy  of  the  support  of  the  Senate  as  a  naval  measure.  If  that  is  the 
opinion  of  the  Naval  Committee,  to  whom  it  appropriately  belongs,  it  seems  to  me 
that  the  Senate  should  not  fasten  a  naval  measure  on  a  postal  bill.  If  it  is  a  postal 
and  commercial  measure,  let  it  stand  on  its  own  merits,;  do  not  saddle  it  on  the  Navy 
when  the  Navy  do  not  ask  it  and  do  not  want.  My  amendment  is  simply  to 
strike  out  the  second  section. 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.  The  Senator  from  Minnesota  moves  to  reconsider 
the  vote  by  which  this  bill  was  ordered  to  be  engrossed  for  a  third  reading. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  I  hope  the  motion  to  reconsider  will  not  prevail.  The  amend 
ment  suggested  by  the  Senator  from  New  Hamshire,  if  moved  by  him  and  adopted 
by  the  Senate,  would  emasculate  the  bill  and  render  it  in  a  great  degree  worthless 
for  the  purposes  for  which  we  wish  the  bill  passed  by  the  Senate. 

Mr.  GRIMES.  If  the  motion  of  the  Senator  from  Minnesota  prevails,  I  shall 
propose  to  amend  the  bill  by  striking  out  the  word  "  directed,"  in  the  fourth  line  of 
the  first  section,  which  makes  it  obligatory  on  .the  Postmaster  General  to  expend  this 
$500,000,  leaving  it  with  him  to  do  it  or  not,  as  he  may  deem  that  the  public 
interest  will  require,  and  there  is  where  I  think  it  ought  to  be  left. 

Mr.  LATHAM.  If  I  move  to  lay  the  motion  to  reconsider  on  the  table,  will  it 
carry  the  bill  with  it? 

The  PRESIDENT  pro  tempore.     It  will  carry  the  bill  with  it. 

Mr.  LATHAM.     I  shall  not  make  the  motion. 

The  motion  to  reconsider  was  not  agreed  to:  there  being  on  a  division — ayes  17, 
noes  24. 

The  question  being  taken  by  yeas  and  nays  on  the  passage  of  the  bill,  resulted — 
yeas  26,  nays  16  ;  as  follows : 

YEAS — Messrs.  Anthony,  Browning,  Carlile,  Cowan,  Davis,  Henderson,  Howard,  Lane 
of  Indiana,  Lane  of  Kansas,  Latham,  McDougall,  Nesmith,  Pomerov,  Powell.  Rice, 
Saulsbury,  Simmons,  Stark,  Sumner,  Thomson,  Wade?  Wilkinson,  Willey,  Wilson  of 
Massachusetts,  Wilson  of  Missouri,  and  Wright — 26. 

NAYS— Messrs.  Chandler,  Clark,  Collamer,  Dixon,  Fessenden,  Foot,  Foster,  Grimea, 
Sale,  Howe,  King,  Morrill,  Sherman,  Ten  Eyck,  Trumbull,  and  Wilniot— 16. 

So  the  bill  was  passed. 


&.  Co*  Printers,.  Booksellers  and  Stationers,  182.  Baltimore  straet,  Baltimore,. 


